Lurio's voyage
by Calame12
Summary: A Riolu was born at the top of a mountain and had to climb down to find other Pokémons. A Gurdurr will adopt him and take care of the Pokémon like he was his child. But the Gurdurr knew that Riolu was special. Disclaimer: since English is not my native language, the writing may not be perfect.
1. Chapter 1: A birth trial

Hello everyone !

So, it's my first fanfic ever and I'm completely new into this domain so don't expect high quality from me (at least at the start ^^)

If you have something to tell me like a suggestion to make my story better, so please review. I'll try to make this story as most enjoyable as I can ! I have to precise that English isn't my main language so I'll really try to not make too many faults ^^'.

Enough talking, here's the first chapter, please enjoy !

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

* * *

**Lurio's voyage**

**Chapter 1: A birth trial**

At the top of a mountain covered by the snow was a white tent placed on the edge, in a frizzing violent blizzard. Inside of it was an egg, surrounded by several campfires which were warming it up. It was a solitary egg, without someone to take care of it, there were just a bag near of the entrance. Suddenly a crack came, and a piece of the egg just flew away: the egg was hatching. When the newborn was able to break out, he showed his head: it was a Riolu.

He was looking around, at the white ceiling, at the campfires and at the bag. The scenery was a bit sad for the riolu. Then he examined his own body, trying to visualize himself. When he placed his right paw on the floor, he felt a sudden cold. It was colder than his egg by far, but it wasn't unpleasant anymore after a few seconds. He found that kind of home a bit little, his movements were limited and he guessed that if he touches the flames, something bad would happen, something painful: he was scared of these. He walked away from them. Then he smelled something, it was particular but pleasant. His instincts immediately told him it was food. The Riolu began to be hungry, he heard his stomach doing a loud noise. He wanted to eat something. The little pokémon walked to the bag and opened it. He firstly found a blanket he threw away and then he saw many fruits. The Riolu took a banana and tried it. The peel was disgusting so he immediately spit it out. Then the pokémon saw the inside part of the banana and pulled out the peel. He tasted again, his eyes closed, ready for the worst...

But the Riolu was surprised of the sweet taste of it. The banana was easily chewed. He found it delicious. When he finished, the little pokémon noticed some sort of a door with a round shape. He wondered what was the use of it. He found a clip at the side. When he just pulled out a little, it opened.

It was suddenly cold, really cold. Some snow entered, making the entrance white. The riolu felt his body being frizzed, so he immediately shut the door. The fire was doing his work. But the riolu learned a new feeling: fear.

He didn't know what to do, he was confused: he wanted help but the pokémon just remembered: there was nobody. He felt alone. Really alone. He began to cry because of his loneliness, he wanted someone to warm him up, to talk to him, to help him, to love him. Then the Riolu knew what he had to do. He had to get out of here, find someone or something to help him survive in this cruel world. He closed the bag, put the blanket on him and took a piece of wood in fire, thinking it would help him to endure the cold. He took a deep breath and opened the door, letting the cold invade the tent.

He saw a whole new landscape: the ground was white, covered in snow, there were big hills and rocks all over the place. The sky was grey, but the blizzard made everything white, the Riolu vision was limited, the ground was much colder. He was scared but he had to do it.

The Pokémon walked, enduring the cold thanks to his blanket and the fire. But the wind was strong, strong enough to push him and make him fall over a few times. After a moment, the wind was trying to push the Riolu away, but he was now resisting. After a while, he stopped, seeing the road stopped too, letting an enormous void taking the place. He looked down and now learned the fear of heights, scared to fall, trying to not imagine what would happen if it happens.

After a while, the Pokémon decided to go down when he saw some cornices he could use to. He let slowly, uneasily his right paw go down, trying to reach the cornice. When he did, he let his other paw go down. He was shaking, the space was little and the next cornice was far down. He didn't want to admit it but he had to: he had to jump. The riolu took another deep breath and jumped.

He landed hardly, groaning. When he got up he touched something strange with a loud noise. He took the weird object and immediately threw it away. It was a skull, not as white as the snow but the skull was looking at the riolu with dark black eyes, it was damaged and the jawbone was missing. The Riolu was feeling something terrifying from it, so he pushed it, making it fall and disappear into the deep white void.

After a few hours, the Pokémon saw something while looking down: it was white ground. He smiled and almost laughed of alleviation. When he finally reached the ground, he sat and took a break. He warmed his hands with the fire and ate an oran berry. Despite the fact the berry was harder to chew, he found it pretty good for its acidic taste, but he preferred the banana by far. After eating a few of those he closed his bag and walked again. After he noticed that the blizzard calmed down he saw another gulf. He punched to the ground covered by the snow, almost in despair, he thought the climbing to be finally over. But he shook his head and slapped himself and he looked down while taking another deep breath. The Riolu knew it was actually far from over...

After a long time, when the mountain wasn't covered by the snow anymore, letting appear some grey rock instead, it was now easier to climb down thanks to many spots where the Riolu was able to stand on. But now he was full of hope because he saw to bottom of the mountain: it was green, with many trees full of different fruits, the Pokémon even believed seeing flying Pokémon who are really far away. He wasn't able to determine how they look like but he absolutely wanted to see them, meet other people. He didn't stop smiling for a moment. When he almost reached the bottom, Riolu saw someone, he was intimidated. Hidden behind a tall rock, he observed the Pokémon: his body was grey with purple streaks all around it and it had purple circles surrounding his shoulders. It had a red round nose and had a lot of spots on his head. Its arms were really big compared to its tiny feet. It was carrying a big beam of rock and was heading to a tall structure of rock which seemed unfinished, there were three more pokémons like him. Suddenly, the riolu slipped by stretching out too much and fell while yelling by fear. The Gurdurr, surprised by the scream, looked at the origin of the noise and noticed the Riolu.

**End of chapter 1**

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So, what did you think ?

If you found this chapter too short, then review about it so I'll try to make the next chapters bigger ! Chapter 2 is supposed to be longer so I guess it won't be a big problem.

By the way the appearance of the chapters depends on my availability but I'll try to be as fast as I can ^^


	2. Chapter 2: A family

Hello there.

This is a remake of the chapter 2, because well... it wasn't the best. if you see what I mean. Anyway, I hope it is better. Please enjoy.

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Pokemon

* * *

**Lurio's voyage**

**Chapter 2: A family**

When the Gurdurr noticed the riolu falling, his eyes widened, he immediately dropped the beam of rock and ran as fast as he can to catch up the falling child. When the Riolu almost touched the ground, the Gurdurr leapt and catched the riolu just in time. He breathed out of relief. The little Pokémon looked at the grey combat type pokémon with fear on his eyes. The gurdurr finally broke the silence:

"Phew, that was close kid! But why did you get up there? It's dangerous especially for a young Pokémon like you!"

The Riolu was still looking at him with fear, he didn't understand what the Gurdurr just said but he knows he was kind of upset and worried at the same time. The Gurdurr, started to be impatient:

"I'm expecting an answer kid, and I'm expected at the construction site in not much time so be quick. You know the Steel Federation isn't really patient."

The newborn understood he had to give an answer by seeing the worker being more and more upset.

So he raised his hand and pointed at the top of the mountain and tried to imitate a hatching egg with his hands. The Gurdurr was at first confused but he understood surprisingly fast, his mouth opened and his eyes widened larger than before, he finally replied:

"Wait... you're telling me you're just a... newborn who..." he stopped but continued after a little while: "...who hatched at the... top of the Giant snow peak?"

The Riolu nodded, who seemed to understand the worker understood. The grey combat type Pokémon was clearly more confused and even seemed to be lost , looking around for someone to help him.

"Gurdurr! What are you doing?!"

The Gurdurr gasped when that voice came out behind him. He turned around and he and the riolu saw another Pokémon, he was really different from the worker: he was composed of three metallic spheres with an eye on each one, with three semicircles colored in metallic black with some red or blue at each end of these. His top sphere had three nails but the tow others had two. The Magneton stared at the gurdurr with anger. He looked really impatient and wanted a quick answer:

"I repeat. What are you... what is that?"

He was now looking at the Riolu, they were looking at each other with the same questioning look. The Gurdurr finally answered with uneasiness:

"Well uhh... actually I found this kid while I was heading to the construction site sir. He's a newborn and uhh... you may won't believe me but... he "told me" he hatched at the top of the Giant snow peak and he climbed down it..."

"Do you think I'm dumb?!" the Magneton replied, really annoyed. "You're telling me that Riolu hatched in and climbed down an unlivable mountain, even for ice type Pokémon? Telling that as an excuse to an officer will be expensive for you worker!"

"But I'm not lying I promise! He told this to me with his hands, look at him!"

The Magneton stared at the Riolu, waiting to see what he would say. The newborn was a bit confused by the look of the metal type, but he wanted some help so he did the same gestures. The Magneton was sceptical.

"Kid don't try to defend a liar."

But the child shook his head, trying to show he's saying the truth. The Magneton didn't know if he was lying or not. But he finally said:

"Okay uhh... where are your parents?"

The child didn't understand this time and grimaced. The Magneton seeing this, started to believe the Gurdurr's story. His eyes widened and asked the worker:

"Uhh... did you meet his parents or other Lucarios recently near of the peak?"

"No sir..." the Gurdurr replied.

"Okay..."

The Magneton looked at the ground, hard thinking.

The worker broke the silence:

"Sir, if you accept, I can take care of him."

"What?" the officer replied, surprised by the proposition.

"I can keep him until we find his parents, he's a combat type Pokémon after all."

"Well uhh..." the steel type Pokémon then stopped. But he finally answered: "Okay, you can adopt him, but try to be silent about his birth condition, I don't want to be related to this weird story. Anyway, go I'll tell your mates an excuse for your non-attendance"

"Thanks officer."

Then he went into the forest.

The Riolu was enthralled by the whole new scenery in front of his eyes. All the trees, the plants, everything was so beautiful! He discovered several new colors like green, red, rose and many others. It was so different from his birthplace. Something was intriguing him during the travel: the Sun. It was a glowing ball but the Riolu wasn't able to look at it for long. The Gurdurr, who noticed the discovery of the child, warned him:

"Don't look at the Sun too much, you'll become blind if you do."

The Riolu didn't understand why he shouldn't look too much at the sun, but he did understand the warning of the worker, so he looked at the ground, trying to memorize all the types of flowers he saw.

After a while, they came across a wooden high wall and finally arrived at the Gurdurr's village. The Riolu was surprised of the sudden change of the environment. The trees let their places to many wooden buildings and tents, there were many Pokémon from all species like Bidoofs, Grotles, Gigaliths and many others. There were many noises, replacing the calm of the forest. Some Pokémon were trying to sell their items to passers-by. The Riolu wasn't able to understand what was exactly happening in the village, he was really lost in this brouhaha but the Gurdurr seemed to be used to.

The little Pokémon noticed another Pokémon who noticed the Gurdurr, he didn't look friendly at all. The Primeape then walked toward them.

When they entered into a house, the Riolu didn't pay attention to the inside and tried to warn the Gurdurr by pointing the outside. But he didn't understand.

Don't worry, it's just my house kid. I won't... »

"Hey Durry."

The Gurdurr's eyes widened by surprise but not as the Riolu expected. The Gurdurr wasn't scared, he was actually happy. The grey combat type turned around and smiled to the Primeape

"Hi Paim! Long time no see!"

"Yeah." Paim replied. "How are you going?"

"All good, finished earlier than expected so, kind of happy. What are you doing here?"

"Well I was just passing by... oh you have a kid now?"

Paim noticed the child and stared at him with surprise. The Riolu stepped away from him, Durry laughed:

"Don't be scared, he seems dangerous like that but he's actually a really chill guy. So, uhh yeah kinda..."

"What do you mean?"

"I adopted him."

"Oh I see. Where did you find him?"

"Well uhh..."

The Riolu, who understood the Primeape wasn't a danger, didn't pay attention to their chat anymore.

He was now observing the inside of Durry's house. He saw so many tools and shelves with many items he didn't know the utility. He was really curious. He decided to take and inspect a saw on a table...

"No no no don't touch it!" Durry came suddenly and took back his saw and put it away, "it's dangerous for you, so please don't touch it for now."

"What a cute daddy." Paim joked.

"You said I'm cute?"

And they continued to chat while the Riolu was observing the tools, trying to guess their utility.

When the Primeape finally left, the Gurdurr shut the door. He turned against the Riolu and said:

"Well I'll do a vegetable soup you must be starving after all this time."

He opened a cupboard and got some vegetables out of it like hot peppers, aubergines, carrots and he took also an onion.

The riolu hearing his words repeated:

"...starving."

The grey Pokémon stopped, and looked at the Riolu, surprised:

"Already?" the worker murmured. "Well uhh... yeah, starving. It's the fact we're really hungry"

"...Hungry."

Durry smiled and continued his cooking. During this time, the Riolu was watching him cutting the vegetables, putting some water in a saucepan, and created fire under it thanks to two flints. The Riolu, thinking of the campfirr, was watching the whole house. The Gurdurr noticing him, reassured him:

"The kitchen is made of rock, so don't expect the house to take fire hehe."

"Rock." the Riolu repeated.

He was really intrigued by the boiling water and its change of color when the worker added the ingredients. Seeing him mixing, the little Pokémon wanted to mix too:

"...want."

"Oh you want to mix?" the Gurdurr asked. "Well it's not dangerous for you I guess."

He gave the spoon to the child. He began to mix faster after a little while and Durry made him slower and told him:

"Not too fast, some soup will fall if you do."

When the soup was ready the smell was really good. The Riolu never smelled something that good before. The Gurdurr filled two bowls with the soup.

"Be warned, it's hot." warned Durry.

But the Riolu was too fast, he tasted and grimaced:

"Hot!"

The Gurdurr laughed and drunk the soup, very slowly. The little Pokémon did the same. It was clearly the best thing he ever ate. He really liked the spicy taste and it was really savory. He drunk his soup in smile, the gurdurr smiled at him. When they finished, the Riolu yawned really loudly, this day was really tiring and all he wanted was to rest. The worker noticed and said:

"It's normal you're tired, after what you've done..."

He took some hay and created a bed with it near of his own:

"Here, it's your bed. Sleep now kid, you deserve some rest."

The Riolu just fell over on the bed. He found it comfortable and nice, but he immediately fell asleep.

It's been two years the little Riolu was living with the Gurdurr. Thanks to him, he learned he was in the Kingdom of Seraïon. He also learned the existence of the Steel Federation that reigned the kingdom. There was a routine that took place in his days: the morning the worker goes to somewhere he was called and he told the child to do some work at home like washing the dishes, taking out the trash...

Helping the Gurdurr was a pleasure for the Riolu, he wanted to thank him for offering a home to him. He was seeing in Durry's eyes a sort of message: "Thanks, that's nice of you.". The child learned to communicate with others with the Gurdurr's help. Learning took time but wasn't that hard because the Pokémon had a common language. Durry wasn't surprised of the Riolu's easiness of learning the language. Life wasn't too complicated. It was even simple. The child was happy. One day, in the morning, the Gurdurr, who was about to work for his friend Vigoroth, told the Riolu:

"So, I left some bread on the kitchen so you can eat it with the soup of yesterday evening. And you know the rest of course."

"Yeah, the dishes, cleaning the workshop... I know. Count on me." the Riolu replied.

"I already do kid." the Gurdurr smiled.

When he was about to go, he turned to the Riolu like he forgot something:

"Oh yeah I almost forgot. You wanna enter the combat academy?"

"What is that?" the child asked.

"It's a school where we learn how to fight, defend ourselves or the others, you see?"

"Uhh yes."

"So what do you think?"

The little Pokémon was curious about how a school would look like and he found his life was getting boring. But he especially wanted to move and learn how to fight. So the answer was obvious:

"Well, I'm curious, so yes."

"Alright. We will go to the academy next week then, it will start in eight days." the Gurdurr replied with a smile.

"Okay."

The Vigoroth, who was waiting, asked to Durry:

"So you're ready Durry?"

"Yeah sorry for the wait." the worker answered. Then he turned to the Riolu: "Bye kid."

"Bye Dad." the Riolu answered unconsciously.

He placed his right hand on his mouth. He called Durry "Dad".

Why did he call him like that?

He didn't know. And he had no idea of how Durry would react. He stopped walking. He turned his head towards the Riolu, with widened eyes and confused on what to say. But he finally answered:

"Well... uhh... goodbye uhh... kid."

And he finally left, with the Vigoroth smiling at them. During the whole day, the child was disturbed. It's been one month the gurdurr was taking care of him. He was feeding him, protecting him against some dangers, teaching him and now he was going to send him to a school. The Riolu thought the worker was actually acting like a father when he was thinking of all the parents with their children. And he didn't know his parents and he always wanted to have a father or a mother but he never showed it. But he loved Durry, really loved Durry. Like he was actually considering him like a father. He did know Durry liked him, but wasn't sure if he was considering the child like his own. At the evening, the Riolu went outside to see if the Gurdurr was near. He was later than usual. The little Pokémon was getting worried. But after a while he saw Durry approaching but he was carrying something else than his tools bag. It was a Pokémon. He wasn't able to identify what he was because of the dark and the gurdurr was running. He noticed the riolu and asked him:

"Kid, is there any soup left?"

"Umm yes?" the riolu answered, confused.

"So fill a bowl with the remaining. That Pokémon is starving to death. Literally."

The child immediately went getting the saucepan filled with some soup and poured it all in a bowl. The stranger took a sit and immediately began to drink his dinner, but really gently, which surprised Durry and the Riolu. While he was drinking, the little Pokémon took the time to identify the Pokémon, he was completely different from everything he saw before:

He was small, smaller than the Riolu. His body was light blue except his white hands and nose. Compared to his body his yellow eyes were really big and he finally had a strange white foam around his neck. The Gurdurr, noticing the questioning Riolu's look at the Froakie, answered his silent question:

"He's a Froakie, a water type pokémon. I found him near of the ocean and he's a bit older than you. From a few months to be precise. He'll be staying with us."

The Riolu was sort of happy of the news. Having a new mate to play with, to chat with. He wanted to be friend with the Froakie. Then he noticed something a bit sad about himself: he didn't have any friends until now. He was always in the house playing with tools he was authorized to play with. He never tried to socialize with other children and he was really reserved. Now was his chance. When the Froakie finished, he thanked both Pokémons and asked:

"Can I have a bed please? If you want of course..."

"Of course you can why not?" answered Durry immediately.

The Gurdurr took some hay and created a bed which looked like the same as the riolu's one. The water type Pokémon thanked him again and fell asleep, surprisingly quickly. A silence just took place in the room with Durry and the riolu watching the Froakie sleeping. The worker finally talked:

"Kid, can I ask you a question?"

"What is it?"

"Do you consider me... as someone close to you?"

"Of course! You took me in your home!"

"Yeah but... I mean as someone really close to you. As a member of the family."

The Riolu didn't answer. Was it the case? This morning he did call him "Dad", so does it mean it is indeed the case. He was too shy to give a real answer. Durry decided to talk again:

"You see, I did have a son before. I had a family and my life was really different. He was a Timburr, my wife, a Charmina, and I named him Timmy. He was the child I dreamed about. Enthusiastic, joyful, curious... somewhat like you. I loved him like he was my own heart. But one day, they died, my wife and Timmy. Both died. Like that. Out of nowhere. Someone came and told me the bad news. You can't imagine the shock. You don't know that even with the experience you had. The death of someone you love. Especially if he was young, like you are right now..."

He stopped. He was trying to keep a stoic face, in vain. The Riolu was listening. He continued:

"When I see you, I'm thinking about Timmy. You're almost the same, except your birth conditions and the species of course. Since this day I tried to forget all of this, tried to continue my life. Then you came and you made me think of them,you're kinda my second chance, a second chance for me to protect a child, someone I love. I noticed you still don't have a name after a month, so I'll let you choose."

The Riolu was thinking, he never thought about having a name before. He firstly thought about "Kid" as a name but he knew it wasn't a good idea. So he chose a name, simple but he liked it.

"Lurio."

"Lurio?" Durry repeated. "Simple but nice. It fits you and it will in the future."

"Thanks Dad."

The father swept some tears and replied, a smile on the face:

"You're welcome... son."

The next day, in the morning, Lurio woke up and saw Durry, cooking, who noticed him and greeted:

"Hello son."

"Hi Dad." the Riolu replied. "Aren't you going to work today?"

"Huh? Oh yes, of course. It's just later than usual. So I decided to cook your lunch."

Lurio nodded. Then he noticed the Froakie wasn't on the bed:

"Where's the..."

"The Froakie?" the Gurdurr completed. "He went outside to take some air. You can go join him if you want."

"Alright. But what is his name by the way?"

"Gre."

"Gre? That's short."

"Maybe, but if you see other pokémons like him, expect names like these." Durry laughed.

"Should I?"

"Umm... kinda. Anyway have fun."

The Riolu nodded again and went outside. He was looking around, searching for Gre but the village was crowded as usual. Lurio tried to find the water type Pokémon among the crowd. But Gre wanted to go take some air, so maybe he was somewhere calm and without too much Pokémons around. Even it was just an hypothesis, the child believed it was true. So he went to a garden behind the house. Gre was really here, watching at the stream, probably in deep thoughts. The garden was next to the high walls which are separating the village and the forest. It was a little field of bright green grass with some bushes and flowers. It was a nice, calm and beautiful place. The Riolu approached Gre, calmly, but the Froakie suddenly turned his head to him and greeted:

"Hello." he stared at the combat type Pokémon, who stopped walking, and suggested: "You can come if you want."

"Umm okay." Lurio nodded, surprised by how Gre heard him approaching. He sat next to him and watched the stream too. He saw a reflection of himself, a Riolu, and Gre, a Froakie. Except that, there was nothing particular to see. Lurio, who wanted to socialize. finally asked:

"So uhh.. how are you?"

"I'm fine thank you. What about you?"

"All good, thanks."

An awkward silence took place for a while. The Riolu, who didn't like that, tried to find a subject of discussion:

"You aren't talking much."

"Well I don't have something to say actually." Gre replied still with an impassive face. "I hate superficial discussions."

"What do you mean?"

"Talking just for talking."

"Oh uhh... okay."

The Froakie smiled: "I guess you came to socialize then." Lurio was embarrassed by the way Gre guessed his intentions.

"But okay, I guess you're a bit curious about me..."

Lurio nodded. Gre continued: "I imagine I have to talk about how I got there. Well... I'm a shipwrecked."

The combat type Pokémon was really surprised of this. A water type Pokémon? A shipwrecked? How can this be?

"You know, I don't even know how I got there." the water type Pokémon added: "I just woke up in the beach, all alone. Then I walked into the forest, and I met your Gurdurr."

"So you don't remember anything?"

"...I don't. All I remember is that... I was swimming. That's all."

"You don't even know your parents?"

"No."

"Oh. I... don't know them neither."

"Oh uhh... I'm sorry..."

"Don't apology. It isn't a problem."

When the riolu was about to stand up, he suddenly slipped and felt into the stream. It was cold, he was feeling all his body being wet. He never touched water in high quantity so he panicked:

"Help me! Help me! I'm drowning!"

"Don't worry you aren't. Look at yourself."

The Riolu calmed down. Yes the water level wasn't high, it wasn't even reaching the shoulders. He was amused but felt awkward too because Gre had the same stoic face than before. Lurio just threw at him some water. He kept the same face but commentated:

"Amateur..."

Suddenly he jumped into the stream and did a surprisingly big splash. Lurio was completely wet now, he looked stupefied by what just happened. The Froakie, seeing his face, asked:

"Are you okay?"

The Riolu laughed and Gre did so. Then they heard Durry calling them. While they were heading back home. Lurio asked:

"Hey, you wanna come at the combat academy next week?"

"The combat academy? Of course, I want to continue training myself."

"Alright then!"

And they entered in the house, with the gurdurr who was waiting them before going to work.

Durry brought the two children in the academy. The place was a rather big building made of wood. Several children were here too to begin the class. Every type of Pokémons were visible, not only combat types to Lurio's surprise. He asked Durry:

"Why so many children want to learn to fight?"

"Because you can't know when you'll have to. And it's better for you to know how to defend yourself if you get in danger. And it does happen often. Life is unpredictabe and dangerous, remember this."

The young Riolu understood why there were so many people in this place. Everyone in this world could be required to battle a day. He did see some brawls and some were really violent, almost ending with a death but some guards of the Steel Federation stopped these. Violence could be the everyday life of many, this world could be really hard. They finally entered in the academy. The first thing they saw was a rather little hall with a candelabrum above. A Carracosta was at the reception desk, telling to the children and parents where to bring the new students. It would be their turn soon. When they approached, the water type glanced at the two children, rather surprised.

"Hello I brought those kids for their first year." Durry started.

"A Riolu and a Froakie?" she said. "That's rare. Especially the Riolu, it isn't common to have one in such a random academy."

"Well it's the nearest one."

"Anyway bring them to the room five, this is at the left. That's where the first years are."

"Thank you."

"You welcome."

They headed into the left corridor. On their left were windows which had a view on a big garden where the children could play, and on their right were four doors, each one had a number marked on it, including the five. So the Gurdurr opened the door of the room five. And they discovered a classroom with at least ten desks and chairs. Several wardrobes were placed at the end of the room and a board were on the opposite wall. Eight other children were here too. Including a Magby, a Stufful, an Helioptile, a Jangmo-o, a Snivy, a Momantis, a Skorupi and a Croagunk. All the children looked at the new comers upon their arrival. The Snivy walked towards them with a smile on the face.

"Hi, are you in the same class than us?" he immediately asked."

"Yes they are." Durry answered quickly. Then he looked at Gre and Lurio. "Alright I'll leave you both here."

"Why?" Lurio asked, worried.

"Because I'm not allowed to remain here. I can't do anything against that. I guess it's to make children more autonomous, something like that. Anyway, see you later kids."

"Later." both kids said in a sad tone.

And he left the room. Lurio and Gre turned around and saw everyone looking at them, seeming excited. The Stufful talked first:

"What are your names?"

"Uhh I'm Lurio and his name is Gre." the little Riolu answered, shyly.

"Ooh Jack that's not how you're supposed to introduce yourself!" the Magby pushed the stufful. « My name is Mack. Nice to meet you. »

"Nice to meet you too." Lurio answered.

Every other children introduced themselves in the same way. The Snivy was Carolina, the Helioptile's name was Frank, the dragon type was Maurice, the Momantis was named Marie, the Skorupi was Oscar and the Croagunk's name was Cristophe. They all seemed so friendly and wanted to know each other. The nice atmosphere of the group charmed Lurio. Gre was getting used to the group pretty fast too. They spent some time asking random questions as where did they come from, or who were their parents. Lurio managed to dodge that question. He didn't know if saying that Durry was his father would be a correct answer. After a moment, another Pokémon entered, much taller than everyone else. It was an adult Golisopod. He had his hands behind his back and was standing straight. He glanced at all the children while walking towards the board. His face was inexpressive.

"Please take a sit children." he suddenly said with a deep and hoarse voice.

Everyone obeyed. Lurio and Gre sat next to each other. When everyone was sat, he talked again:

"Alright, good morning children."

"Good morning." all the children said together.

"I am Galern. I will be your class teacher. And first I'd like to tell you one thing: when you enter in a classroom, it is preferable that you take a sit even if the teacher isn't here. You can still chat but when the teacher is here, don't. Did I make myself clear?"

"...Yes."

He was cold, but was obviously more experienced by far than them. He was imposing and his big claws were making him scarier.

"Alright, today since it is just your first day we won't do much things except presenting to you the different classes and asking you to introduce yourselves."

He stopped and picked with his dark claws a piece of paper.

"Okay, I'm going to call each one of you with your names. Answer "here" when I say yours."

And that's what he did. No other words were heard except names and "here". When they finished, the Golisopod talked again:

"Okay now I'll present you the different classes you'll have during the year. Meanwhile we'll go outside to visit the school."

Despite the cold tone, Lurio was sort of happy to finally visit the school deeply. They all went out of the classroom headed towards the bottom of the corridor and opened a door leading to outside. They saw a rather big schoolyard with several trees around it and at the center was what seemed to be a ring made of clay. It was rather beautiful to see.

"You'll have several classes during the year. You will have close combat classes, general combat, muscle building, and general classes where you're going to receive a... general education."

"What does that mean?" Jack asked.

"You'll learn grammar, maths, history... some things like that..."

"Oh is this a ring?!" Maurice shouted.

Everyone looked at the young Jangmo-o when he interrupted the teacher. Surprisingly the Golisopod said:

"Yes. It is."

"Can we fight on it?"

"Umm no. Sorry but I'm not allowed to let you put up a fight on it. Not today."

"Why?" the Magby asked this time.

"Like I said, you can't today. Right now I'm just supposed to make you aware of the rules, the classes and make you visit the school."

"Oh too bad. I wanted to show everyone my ember attack in a combat. But look at it it's so cool!"

He took a deep breath and spout out a little fire projectile... right getting into a tree. Galern without any warning leaped into the projectile's way. A sort of water saber appeared on his hand and he cut in a half the ember really quickly. The fire projectile disappeared. All the children were stupefied by the Golisopod's sudden move. The saber disappeared and the teacher stared at the little Magby. He was scared.

"I... I... I'm sorry! I didn't want to..."

"Don't worry. I know."

He put his hands on his back.

"I forgot to tell you that this ring is only for close combats. So the particular moves aren't allowed on it."

"Aren't you going to punish me?"

"Well... no. Look, I know you're excited, that you're impatient to know what you're able to do on the ring. But for now, try to hold yourself. I was like all of you when I was at your age, so I can understand it. And it's just your first day here and you're a little kid so it would be really rude from me."

Lurio was surprised the kindness and wisdom behind those words. Maybe the Golisopod wasn't as cold as he seemed.

"Anyway, this way." The teacher said.

When the they were about to continue the visit. Lurio decided to ask Galern if what Durry said was really true.

"Galern?" He asked.

He turned around, looking rather surprised.

"Yes?"

"Is it true that we have to be ready to fight at any moment?"

The Golisopod looked away for a moment, thinking.

"Well uh... yes that's true. Sadly this world is pretty hostile. I don't know anyone who didn't fight or have a terrifying experience, for now. So it is really advised to know how to battle, in the case you encounter a person with bad intentions, which occurs often."

"But why does it arrive often?"

"It's... too complicated for a child like you but... there are many things in these lands that can turn someone good into one of the most cruel person in the world. I won't tell you more because we don't have much time, but you have to be careful."

Lurio nodded, silent. He didn't know what to think about all this. Is the world really that hard? All of a sudden Galern talked to him again:

"By the way, since you're a Riolu, teachers may expect many good things from you. So work hard. That's an advice."

"Okay sir."

So this world can be hard. That was probably the first thing he learned in the school, and he apparently had to work hard to success in it.

One year passed. Lurio and Gre were keeping improving their combat skills. Gre was especially trying to master his speed in the academy's parkour, improvements were visible over time. The Riolu was practicing to create an aura sphere even if his father told him he had to evolve to be able to do an aura sphere. One day he asked:

"Dad, when do I evolve?"

"To be honest, I don't know." the Gurdurr answered. "There are rumors telling riolu evolve when they're happy, but I don't believe them."

The Riolu didn't know if he should believe it, but he thought he was enjoying his life though. So why wasn't he evolving? He imagined that he still had to wait. The Riolu did what Galern told one year ago, and he was right. The teacher were usually asking harder exercises to him since he was a Riolu. But it didn't bother him that much. One day, while Gre was training in the academy. Lurio was having a walk near of the village, as he looked around he saw two Pokémons among the trees far away from the village. Since he was curious, he approached them to know what they were doing. Then he recognized one of them. He was Mack who evolved into a Magmar a month ago. He was with a Chespin and were oddly close. As he was getting closer, he began to understand what they were saying:

"But why do you need this money?" the Chespin said.

"Do I ask you questions? And it's personal, but I really need it I swear!" Mack said, he was getting angry.

"Calm down! And this money is mine and I need it to buy something for my parents! So please let me go!"

"Give me or I'll hurt you!"

The plant type was scared. Lurio had to help him.

"Mack?" He said.

"Huh?"

He turned around and noticed Lurio:

"Oh uh hey Lurio."

"What are you doing?"

"Ah I... I'm just talking with the Chespin here. Nothing more."

"Mack, tell me really, why are you bullying him?"

Mack stayed silent, surprised to see that the Riolu saw what he was doing.

"Uhh look, okay this seems pretty bad what I'm doing but this money is really important for me."

"Why then?"

"It's personal dammit!" Mack was getting angry.

Without paying attention, he released the Chespin from his arms, letting him go.

"NOO! Wait!..."

"Really Mack, you aren't like that usually. Why are you doing this?"

"As I said a million times, it's PERSONAL!"

"But tell it! I won't tell to anybody if you want!"

"It's...it's too complicated for you!"

"I don't care! I just want to understan..."

"Okay buddy, if you decided to continue bothering me then we'll do it the hard way."

"What but..."

"At the lake, at midnight, and if you don't come, I'm going to get you. The Steel federation members won't be guarding the village as much as the day."

"Really Mack you..."

But he ignored what he said and he left. He really didn't know what to do. Mack was not supposed to be such a bad person. Since they know each other, Mack was really nice and was someone who didn't really want to fight anyone in the school. Lurio decided to go to the lake this midnight. Not to fight him, but to understand him. Midnight arrived. And Mack was right, the security was lowered, there were less Magnemites near of high walls. He climbed the high walls and walked discreetly towards the lake. When he arrived, Mack was sitting on a rock, watching the lake. The moon light reflected by the lake made the place nice to watch, and a good arena...

"So you're here." the Magmar glanced at the Riolu.

"If only you didn't come..." Mack commentated.

"Look Mack, I don't want to..."

"To fight me? Of course I know. I'm not such an idiot."

"But I really..."

"I know you just want to know why I'm doing this but... I'm in a very bad mood right now..."

The Magmar took a deep breath a spit out a flamethrower at Lurio. He gasped and rolled aside to dodge it.

"Calm down I really don't want to...!"

Mack didn't listen and attacked again with a flamethrower. Lurio dodged it again. Immediately after the flamethrower, the fire type leaped on the Lurio with a fist on fire. The Riolu jumped backward and Mack landed, hitting the ground with his fist. Lurio approached, thinking that Mack calmed himself down.

"Okay, can we..."

All of a sudden, the Magmar dealt an uppercut with a fire punch with his other fist, sending the Riolu rather far. Lurio got up, with a big pain in the jaw. That was it then. If he wanted Mack to calm down, he had to do it himself. Lurio in an access of rage, by instinct, he put his hands together and concentrated energy in these. A ball was forming between his hands and he threw it into Mack who didn't react surprisingly. A little explosion occurred at the impact. When there was the explosion, Lurio seemed to be aware of what he just did.

"Did I... just do an aura sphere?" he thought.

When the smoke disappeared, he saw that Mack was down. The combat type approached again carefully. He wasn't injured that much. He was happy that he didn't deal too much damage.

"Can I have an answer now?" he asked.

"Don't tell anyone about what I did. I don't have the choice..." Mack answered.

"What? Why didn't..."

"HEY BOTH OF YOU! STOP MOVING!"

They looked at the origin of the voice. Many Magnemites and Magnetons surrounded them, emanating electricity to create light, an Aggron was the commander. Lurio and Mack were caught.

The Riolu was confused by the fire type Pokémon's application.

He did understand Mack wanted to keep the story secret. But he « didn't have the choice »? He didn't know. Then the Aggron interrogated Lurio:

"Can I know why you were fighting at midnight?"

"We wanted to find a place to see which of us were the strongest. Nothing special." Lurio lied.

"Huh. You aren't a common Riolu, aren't ya?... » he stopped, staring at the Riolu, clearly trying to see if he was lying. But he stayed stoic. He continued: "Fortunately for you, combats aren't directly punished, but if hear another trouble from you and your little friend I'll arrest both of you without any hesitation! Understood!?"

"Understood." Lurio answered hurriedly. When he went back home, Durry was waiting him with Gre, then he noticed the injuries, so he ran into the child.

"Dear Arceus what did you do to get such an injury?"

"It's... a long story."

Durry spent a part of the night trying to heal Lurio from his injuries while the riolu explained everything.

After five years, Lurio and Gre obtained their final diploma, which proved they were decent fighters. The ceremony reunited all the teachers of the academy, who congratulated all the graduated. Galern was the most quiet of them all, it was visible that he was proud of the two. Gre now became a fast Greninja and was also graduated bounty hunter. Lurio managed to become a powerful Lucario, he didn't really know what to do with his life. But exploring Seraïon and helping people sounded good for him. Durry was getting old, and now became a Conqueldurr proud of the two young Pokémons he brought up. Gre was now old enough to go out of his tutors home. The day of his departure, while Gre was preparing his bag, Lurio wanted to see him:

"So you're leaving?"

"Let's say I'm challenging you." the Greninja answered. "Challenging you to find me."

"I would have preferred you to wait me until my birthday..."

"Well... to be honest I don't want to bother Durry. He's getting old and I don't want to be an unnecessary load for him."

"But he..."

"He doesn't regard me like that I know." interrupted Gre "But in reality? Even if I'm still young, I'm not a child anymore, I can go see the world, freeing my tutor from myself."

The Lucario stayed silent, which the bounty hunter noticed:

"Alright, I won't go too far from here, so it'll be easier for you to find me okay?"

"But what if you die?" it sounded odd, but Lurio was aware of how dangerous this world can be, especially that Gre took a rather risky job.

"I won't. I promise it."

Lurio had tears on his eyes and tried to not cry. Gre put his left hand on his brother's shoulder:

"Take that as a brother's promise."

Durry was watching outside holding two rock beams, smiling with some tears. Gre went outside followed by Lurio and hugged both of them:

"I'll miss you..."

He walked towards the village exit, turned around with shedding tears:

"Goodbye." Durry and Lurio were watching him leaving, until he completely disappeared, far away.

**End of chapter 2**

* * *

The next chapter is where things are becoming interesting (I hope). We're just at the introduction of the story then we'll get into it.


	3. Chapter 3: Life really begins

Hello!

It's been a week then. Sorry for the late, school stuff take some of my time you know. Anyway chapter 3 is there!

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.**

* * *

**Chapter 3: Life really begins**

Lurio had to wait a few months before being able to go. Contrary to Gre, he didn't really know what to do with his life. So he just decided to go outside, explore the kingdom, discovering new areas... He already told Durry this and he didn't really care, seeming to not worry for his adopted son's future. When came the day, Lurio went outside, a bag on the back, ready to go, to join the Greninja. The Conqueldurr joined him, smiling, not looking sad. The Lucario noticed his presence and smiled at his turn to the old Pokémon. He had some tears appearing on his eyes which he swept away. Durry began to talk:

"So, I guess that is it then."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Which place you wanna visit first then?"

"I don't know, probably the Steel federation siege. I wonder how it looks like."

"Heh. A true fortress I assure you."

They began to hug each other strongly.

"Be careful, son."

"Same for you dad."

Then he walked towards the exit, and looked at the Conqueldurr, waving at him. He did the same and continued to walk.

"Thanks for everything." Lurio thought. He walked through the portal, and turned around again, seeing Durry still staring at him, from far away. Some tears came again. He swept them away again, walking to discover a world.

He was walking for a long while. Villages were really far away from each other and the nearest city is still miles away. He got stopped by several Steel federation patrol to let them look what was inside the bag. Seeing nothing potentially dangerous, they apologized and went away. Lurio noticed the security around his home increased pretty much and imagined the security in all the region too. He didn't know why and not much did. He asked to several travelers and they didn't know neither. Except some who said a dangerous Pokémon was in the region, well hidden. The Lucario was then looking around to see if there was actually a suspicious Pokémon nearby. He didn't but decided to still be ready to any situation. During the travel, he was observing his surroundings: there were many trees which some had fruits on their sticks. There were many bushes and small trees with berries on them or flowers. The road wasn't too intrusive and didn't take too much place but it was enough for a Pokémon to be oriented. The combat type was remembering the first time he saw the forest. It was a whole new world opening to himself. And today, he was finally able to explore it and discover new landscapes. After a few hours, he finally arrived in a camp, where Pokémons usually come to rest after a long travel.

A Chansey welcomed him really friendly:

"Hello! Do you need something?"

"Well, I'm beginning to be hungry."

"No problem! Go to the orange tent. They'll give you something."

"Thank you."

In the orange tent were some meals like soups or salads. He went for the carrot soup and some bread. The soup wasn't bad but not as tasty as Durry's one. The bread was really good though, not hard at all to chew and hot enough. When he finished, he asked to the Chansey at the entrance:

"Excuse me but do you know where is the nearest city from here?"

"You mean Shatmeen? » the Chansey answered quickly enough. Lurio nodded. The rose Pokémon added: "From here, follow the road heading toward the east and don't take any turn. You'll get there in 10 hours approximately."

"Thanks again."

"You welcome, good luck!"

The Lucario waved and followed the road. He wanted to go to Shatmeen because it's a good start for the bounty hunters, so he believed Gre would be there. He wasn't sure but he had to try. After 4 hours, the night was coming, making the area darker. The Lucario had to hurry, he heard the nocturnal Pokémons were aggressive. They're maybe rumors, but he didn't want to see if they were true. He reached the nearest resting camp breathless due to his big footing. He was welcomed by a Chansey again:

"You just arrived in time."

"Yeah we can say that..." replied Lurio, noticing night was completely here, making the whole forest dark.

"Are you hungry?"

"I'll just take some bread thanks."

He went in a resting tent with some bread. Plenty of Pokémons were here, some were sleeping on bed made of hay with sheets on them and some weren't sleeping, they were either eating, either trying to sleep. But when the Lucario entered they all stopped what they were doing and stared at the combat type Pokémon, with... fear?

"Hello?" Lurio said.

Nobody answered.

"Hey, I'm not a killer. Why are you all staring at me?"

A Gogoat finally answered:

"You don't know? We don't see much Lucarios here. And the one we heard about is... mad."

The others nodded. Lurio wanted to try to reassure them:

"Well, I'm not that guy. If I were him I would have already destroyed this camp if I were "mad" right?"

It seemed to work. The Pokémons looked at each other and they accepted him. He was really sleepy so he ate fast his bread and fell asleep on a hay bed. He woke up rather early. We gave him a cup of miltank milk, said goodbye to the chansey and went away, continuing his journey. He didn't see many travelers this morning compared to yesterday. It was probably because of the early time. While he was observing the landscape, he saw Shatmeen. It looked like a big city, made completely of rock. There were many buildings and all of them had walls of rock and the roofs were made of wood. The main building was taller than the others and was situated at the back of the city and looked really more fortified. Many Pokémons were leaving and entering in the city. It was becoming bigger than expected when he came closer of the entrance. Two Escavaliers were guarding the entrance. One of them called out the Lucario, suspicious, and blocked the entrance with one of his spears:

"Halt! Why are you here stranger?"

"I'm here to see an old acquaintance again."

"Yeah..." the guard replied in a septical ton. "Who is he?"

"A Greninja named Gre, he's a bounty hunter."

The other Escavalier seemed to recognize Lurio's old acquaintance:

"Oh yeah that one. He set off again last night."

The Lucario was disappointed of the news. He arrived too late. When he was about to ask where he did go, the guard asked:

"Why do you want to meet him?"

"We know each other, I just need to find him." the combat type answered, aware that it wasn't the best answer. The guards snorted, seeming to not believe his words:

"Alright kid, you see we aren't racists. But recently, one of your kind just killed several Steel federation members. So we've been told to be prudent every time we see a Lucario. So what you're saying is absolutely not a good reason for us to let you pass."

Lurio was surprised. A Lucario killed several Pokémons by himself? He understood the suspicion of the Escavaliers. But he had to enter:

"But I'm not..."

"What is happening?" an unknown voice said.

The Lucario turned around and saw a Magnezone with two Magnetons.

"Officer, this Lucario wants to enter in Shatmeen, but he's really dubious. He wants to find someone." a guard answered.

The Magnezone looked at the lucario, interrogating him:

"Where are you from?"

"Peak village." Lurio answered simply.

The Magnezone got his eyes widened. Lurio understood he was linked with Durry. The officer asked finally with uneasiness:

"Who... did raise you?"

The Magnetons and Escavaliers were confused by this question. But the Lucario was now sure the Magnezone was the Magneton he saw long ago:

"A Gurdurr."

"I see..." he stopped for a moment looking at the sky, remembering the day Durry found Lurio as a Riolu. "You can let him pass."

"What?" the two Escavaliers said with a surprise ton, not understanding the situation.

"I said let him pass."

"Alright sir."

Lurio finally entered. The ground was in rock. There were many shops and Pokémons, especially bounty hunters and signs with contrats. The combat type felt really small compared to the enormous buildings. Then he turned to the Magnezone:

"Thanks for helping me."

"That was nothing kid. I just did my job, be happy I helped the Gurdurr to keep you with him. Now go on and do your thing. As I said to your "father", I don't want to be related to this case."

He started to get away and then added:

"Everyone is scared of Lucarios now, kid. Be careful about that."

And he went away. Lurio nodded and continued his way through the city. He was asking to different bounty hunters if they knew the Greninja, fortunately a Scizor told him what he wanted:

"Gre? Well this night he went to the black lake for a contrat. Even if he's probably gone, you should go there. In case you find something. If you don't, try Frator village. It's near of the lake, towards its north."

The Lucario thanked the bug type and leaved Shatmeen for the black lake. All he knew about that place was the fact the lake was literally black, he heard it was something like "oil" but he wasn't sure. Nobody knew the utility of it. In his way he saw a Muk coming from the lake, heading to Shatmeen. He decided to interrogate him:

"Excuse me but have you seen a greninja lately?"

"Of course! I did find one as a bounty hunter. He helped me for getting back my home from crobats. He is really talented for a young one."

"Really?" the Lucario replied, satisfied to have found the job giver. "Where did he go?"

"Towards the plains tower. He told me he had another contrat."

Lurio didn't know at all there were plains nearby:

"But where are these plains?" he asked.

"Just go forward through the black lake. You won't miss the tower."

"Alright. Thank you very much."

"You welcome young one!"

And he continued his journey through the forest, following the road. But then he began to smell something. He never smelled something like this before. It was really bad smelling. He covered his nose with his hand and walked. He knew the smell wasn't from Muks, he knew their smell and this one was different. After a little while, he found the source of the smell, it was the black lake. He was surprised by the surprising dark black of the liquid. He didn't expect it to be that black. He wanted to touch the lake, he was curious about this mystery. He soaked one of his fingers in the oil and examined it. It was kinda slimmy and finished camouflaged with his black hand. The lucario was getting disgusted of it and regretted his choice. Now he had to wash his hands before he can touch anything. He decided to go to the nearest watering place. But without noticing it, he found his way to the plains. There were no trees except some really far away. The ground was full of grass. It was really empty, there were not many Pokémons around. And the Muk was right, the tower was unmissable. It wasn't that tall, but still impressive. It was in majority made of rocks, but the beams and the roof were made of wood. Some Magnetons and Magnemites were levitating around. Without any doubt, this tower was a Steel federation outpost. Lurio was heading to the outpost. When a Magneton noticed him, he decided to ask informations:

"Excuse me officer but how am I supposed to wash my hand?"

The Magneton looked at the combat type hand and noticed to black liquid:

"What is it?" He asked.

"Some "oil" I guess."

The electric type didn't seem to be surprised:

"Just use the watering place of the tower. We won't care."

"Thank you officer." the Lucario nodded.

It was a little stream circulating next to the wall. Lurio used the water to wash his hand and managed to not let fall any oil in the stream. Then he remembered why he came here. He returned seeing the magneton:

"Have you seen a Greninja lately by the way?"

"Umm... no."

The combat type Pokémon didn't understand during a few seconds. But then he understood the situation and was surprised of the information:

"What? But..."

"Sorry but we didn't see any recently. Were you expecting a bounty hunter to come here? Because we did put an announcement at Shatmeen. Maybe just wait for a moment, he'll maybe come. "

Lurio nodded and sat on the grass, not too far from the tower. It was strange because Gre must have already come here. Something must have disrupted or something similar. Gre is supposed to be always focused on his current objective. Suddenly a Magnemite was approaching really fast. He was panicked. He talked to the Magneton with a ton telling there was an emergency:

"We reported us an attack near of the Giant snow peak!"

Lurio immediately stood up. His home risked to be attacked! Durry was probably in danger! He had to go. Now! The peak was visible from his position all he had to do was heading to it. He ran trying to be as much quick as possible. He heard the Magneton yelling at him:

"Wait! You don't know what..."

He didn't hear the end. But he didn't care. He continued to run. Gre was probably aware of this and went there...

He ran until he was exhausted. He was near of the peak and night was coming. It was becoming darker but he still continued. Really exhausted, he did stop and almost fell off on the ground. He had to rest, for a bit. After a while, when he rest enough to be able to run again, he heard someone yell. He didn't know who it was but they were clearly suffering. He sprinted toward the source. All of a sudden he gasped, he found a whole battlefield. Many trees were destroyed and holes were on the ground and especially... corpses of different Pokémons were here. Some were still bleeding. They were from the Steel federation. It was a horrible scene to watch. They lost a battle but who did this atrocity?... A Lairon was still alive though. Lurio ran to him:

"What happened here?" He asked.

"No... you aren't him..." the lLairon said, really painfully.

"But who?"

"Just run... you can't do anything against him... run... or he will kill you..."

There was suddenly a sound. A branch broke.

"He found you..."

The Lairon just stopped moving after his last words. He was now dead. But Lurio wasn't alone. He felt something. Something strong. Stronger than everything he knew. He noticed some sort of blue sparks on a Gigalith. It was from an aura sphere. Someone landed behind him. Lurio turned around and saw another Lucario. But he was different. The blue fur was darker with black lines, he had more beige fur and more spikes on his red hands and feet. The tail was beige. The foe Lucario was staring at him with an inexpressive look. Lurio was intimidated. He was shaking and tried to hide his fear. The foe Lucario suddenly said:

"You aren't one of us."

"What do you mean?" Lurio didn't understand the meaning of these words.

"It doesn't matter."

The foe Lucario suddenly leapt towards Lurio and prepared a quick but strong aura sphere. Lurio wasn't able to react in time. He was going to get hit... But he felt being pushed aside by someone else. The aura sphere stroke a tree which fell off. He didn't know who it was but when he looked at him his fear disappeared.

"Are you ok brother?" Gre asked, worried.

« I'll be okay."

Lurio stood up and got himself in position with Gre and warned him:

"He's fast, be careful."

"Yeah I saw that." He prepared a jump. "But I'm faster."

"Wait!"

But he was too fast. Gre jumped upward and threw a big water shuriken at the enemy. The Lucario dodged by jumping aside then he landed on a tree's trunk and he finally jumped toward the Greninja. But he seemed to have expected this. He moved his body so he was able to dodge theLlucario's punch. Then he managed to grab him on the stomach and threw him on the ground. Unfortunately the enemy landed hardly on his feet, without injuries. When Gre landed, the Lucario leapt on him to do a drain punch on him, Gre created a water shuriken and used it as a shield in time. But the impact was too strong, so he was knocked on the ground. The Lucario was now about to strike a violent drain punch on him. Lurio had to do help Gre now. So he threw an aura sphere on the Lucario. He noticed the attack and jumped backwards, letting Gre safe. Lurio joined the battle.

"Thank you. I won't forget that..." Gre thanked his brother.

"No problem but focus on him for now."

And Lurio was right. The foe Lucario were preparing a strong aura sphere.

"Wait..." Lurio thought

"Two aura spheres?!" He thought out loud.

"What?!"

The lucario then threw two aura spheres at the same time at both, making them separate due to a huge smoke cloud created by the explosion. Lurio thought his aura vision would be finally useful, because he wasn't able to see something in the smoke. While he was using it, he saw two auras, one was the Lucario, more hostile, and the other one was Gre. The Greninja was behind him. Suddenly he did a waterfall attack, heading towards the foe Lucario really fast. But Lurio felt something bad coming. The foe Lucario knew what was happening. Quicker than ever, he jumped upwards and was about to smash the Greninja's head with his powerful punch. Gre stopped his attack immediately and jumped backwards. But it was too late. The Lucario dealt him a violent drain punch on the head. Gre was a bit sinked into the gound, unconscious. His head was now bleeding. Lucario yelled in rage, getting out of his aura vision:

« NOOOO! »

He sprinted forward, jumped towards the enemy and was about to deal a high jump kick. But the foe Lucario rolled forward and Lurio missed, injuring his leg. He turned around, staring at the enemy, full of rage. But the foe Lucario finally talked:

"Sorry, but you've seen me as your friend here did. So I have to kill you too."

"As I'd let..."

Lurio blinked and the lucario disappeared. His eyes widened of surprise and tried to feel the hostile aura. He was right behind him. When Lurio noticed, he received a strong kick in the head and was sent away and stroke a rock. His whole body was painful and his mouth was bleeding. "A single hit..." Lurio thought, ashamed to be almost fainted by one hit. When he was about to stand up and continue the fight, the foe Lucario threw an aura sphere on him.

"I'm sorry..." Lurio whispered.

And the sphere stroke him, destroying the rock. Lurio felt a sudden huge pain. But he immediately fell unconscious.

He woke up. How was he still alive? That aura sphere was supposed to kill him. He wasn't in a camp, he was still in the forest in the night. His bleeding stopped but the pain was still here. He stood up with great difficulty and looked around. There were still the corpses. But Gre wasn't here anymore. He looked around again in panick. Where was his body? There was still the marks of it. We took him. But where? Then he saw some big prints on the ground, heading to the other way. He decided to follow them, he wasn't sure if it was help but had to take the risk. The forest was calm. Too calm. Nocturn Pokémons should be out there at this time. They were probably scared after what happened. He didn't know how long he was unconscious. He had to be quick. He didn't have to walk for too long before he found a light. He decided to walk faster to get there. When he was near of the source of the light. He saw three Pokémons. A Garchomp, a Charizard and... Gre. But the Charizard was near of the Greninja's head, his month in fire. Lurio panicked and managed to run forward despite the pain. Both Pokémons heard him coming and they prepared themselves. When Lurio finally showed himself the Garchomp shouted:

"The Lucario!"

"Wait." The Charizard interrupted the Garchomp. "Look. He's severly injured, that can't be him."

The Garchomp looked at the Lucario and agreed with the Charizard. But Lurio wanted Gre:

"Let the Greninja go!"

The two Pokémons looked at the water type and the fire type replied:

"Kid, you're outnumbered and injured so don't..."

"Let him go!" Lurio interrupted. He prepared himself for a battle.

"Alright. You wanted this."

The Charizard took off and told the Garchomp:

"Let me take care of this."

The Garchomp nodded and stepped backwards. The Charizard did a flametrower on the Lucario. He dodged but in pain. Battling was really hard because of his injuries. He guessed the Charizard was seeing if he was really able to fight. The Charizard did this time an air slash attack with his wings. The Lucario managed to roll aside and dodge it. He was wondering how he would be able to hit the enemy. The trees would be useful to reach the fire type. This was it then. He ran on the tronk until he reached the top. The Charizard flought at the same height and was now rushing him fast. The Charizard made the work easier. He leapt on him and his punch was recovering itself with ice. Ice punch was now ready to strike. Suddenly the Charizard peaked down. The Lucario's attack missed and now the flying type was behind. His month was in fire. But the Charizard did thunder punch instead of a flamethrower. Surprised of this decison, Lurio has been smashed down on th ground. He was fainted. Again.

Gre woke up because of the noise. His body was hurting, especially the head. He remembered he was in a battle against the Lucario and he saw him in the sky, about to strike him. He guessed he has been hit. But then he thought about his brother Lurio. He gasped and stood up and just noticed the Garchomp and the Charizard, staring at him. But what he saw shocked him. Lurio was laying down, severely injured, next to the fire type. He was now in rage, go in an offensive position and created a big water shuriken:

"You... you did this?!" Gre said in a threatening tone.

"Well, we warned him but he didn't listen." The Garchomp replied.

"No don't taunt him." The Charizard interrupted before the ground type continued. The fire type added:

"To be more precise, he wanted to fight us before we could explain what was happening..."

"What have you done to him?!"

"He isn't dead I assure you. If I wanted to kill him, a flamethrower would have been perfect. And my thunder punch wasn't too strong, so don't worry I just neutralized him."

Gre was still holding the shuriken, ready to throw it. But he decided to destroy the weapon. It would have been stupid to fight with these injuries:

"Alright I forgive you, but we gotta get in a camp and fast."

Then his head hurt suddenly, it wasn't that painful but still unpleasant. The Garchomp noticed:

"Was it a Lucario who did this?"

"Yeah, we can say that..." Gre answered.

"Why "we can say that"?"

"He was different, he didn't look like a normal Lucario."

The Charizard, interested, asked:

"What do you mean?"

"He had a darker blue fur with black lines, more beige fur, more spikes, red paws and hands..."

"I see..."

Suddenly a crack came. The three Pokémons stared at the origin of the sound. The Charizard told to the others:

"Get the injured Lucario. I'll take care of this."

"But why..." The Garchomp disagreed with this decision.

"Because if the Greninja were true, I am the perfect guy to fight him."

"Oh yeah..."

Gre didn't understand. Why should the Charizard be able to take care this? The Garchomp didn't look to be bad fighter. A Lucario appeared, looking like the same as the one before. He talked first:

"Well I found my targets, and I have two more apparently."

She was a female. That means there are several Lucarios like them. That fact afraid Gre. The Garchomp asked to him:

"Is she the one who attacked you?"

"No..."

"So there are more of them..."

The Lucario was now ready to fight in an offensive position and started with a taunt:

"Please let me kill you quickly. It was a long way to come here so I don't want to spend time on you..."

"No." The Charizard interrupted. Suddenly he was glowing. It was a light similar to the one when a Pokémon evolve. The Charizard was becoming black, his stomach became blue. His wings's shape changed, becoming sharper but still usable and blue fire was getting out of his mouth. He roared loudly, intimidating Gre and even the Lucario, who looked surprised. She whispered:

"So he was still alive..."

The Charizard didn't listen and did a powerful blue flamethrower on the Lucario. She jumped really high but the fire type was continuing his flamethrower and aimed to his target. She immediately threw an aura sphere towards the Charizard. He noticed in time, so he stopped the attack and managed to dodge the projectile by jumping aside. When the Lucario landed, she closed her eyes and then her hands had more aura. Seeing the nasty plot, the fire type took off and attacked above the enemy with a big air slash. The Lucario leapt on a tree behind her and used it as a springboard to dodge the slash. The air slash stroke the tree, damaging the trunk to make it fall on her. Her eyes widened and quickly made an aura sphere. When the tree was about to hit her, she used the sphere as a shield. At the impact, an explosion came and many parts of the tree were sent away. The Lucario was hit by the explosion but was still able to fight. The Charizard took advantage of the distraction and placed himself just above his target. When she noticed the flying Pokémon, he did a flamethrower down oh his position. The Lucario managed to dodge in time but his paw has been hit. The pain she was feeling was visible on her face, grimacing. Despite the pain, she did an aura sphere at the Charizard who dodged it easily. But she immediately did another aura sphere after the first shot. The fire type reacted too late and was hit on the wing. He yelled in pain and was forced to land hardly. The Lucario was now laughing and approached the Charizard:

"Ha! Who has the advantage now? You little..."

Suddenly the Charizard stood up and caught the fighting type by the neck. She gasped and prepared another aura sphere. But the fire type took one of her hands with his free one. Not able to do her attack, the Lucario started to panick. The Charizard opened his mouth widely, ready to spit fire. But the enemy approached her hands each other closer enough to do a flash canon on the Charizard's stomach. The pain was enough for the charizard to free her. He immediately took position for the flamethrower. But she wasn't here anymore. She was standing at the top of a tree, staring at him with a murderous look:

"We'll meet again revenant. And this time, I'll ice you..."

And she disappeared. The Charizard transformed himself as a normal Charizard again. Gre was staring at him, astonished by what just happened while the Garchomp wasn't. He just said:

"Well played Charles."

"Thanks Gaby."

Charles was now looking at Gre:

"You don't know mega-evolution?"

"What?" Gre answered, completely ignoring what was it.

"Well... it's hard to explain."

The Charizard searched the words to use. Then he continued: "To be simple, it's the fact we can "evolve" into a more powerful version of ourselves. But it's not really an evolution. It's just for a certain time."

"So those lucarios are... mega-lucarios?"

"Yeah, you got it. But this concept isn't known of the public. Only a few people and the high commanders of the Steel federation are aware of this. And I am one. An experiment subject in a certain way."

Gre didn't know what to think of this story. The concept of mega-evolution was interesting but thinking of the Lucarios made it looking like dangerous. But something was intriguing him:

"The Lucario called you "revenant" meaning she didn't see you since a long while. What does that mean?"

The Charizard was surprised of this question. He firstly stayed silent but then he answered:

"I have no idea. Maybe she confused me with someone else."

Gre didn't believe that but decided to stay silent. After Charles took a rest, the three Pokémons went away, heading to the nearest camp, bringing Lurio, sill unconscious. Arrived at the camp, the Chansey took charge of Lurio and brought him in the infirmary. Gre didn't know how much time passed while the Chanseys treated the Lucario. After a moment, Charles and Gaby joined him. The Charizard was the first to talk:

"So, the Lucario and you are close friends. Right?"

"We grew up together in the Peak village, as brothers." the Greninja answered softly.

"Oh I see. And you are both bounty hunters?"

"I am. Lurio just wants to see the world. Explore it."

"Okay."

There was a silence. But Gaby decided to break it.

"Alright. You see we're bounty hunters as well. And we're searching those Lucarios for a while now."

"I understood. But I don't want to join you. Lurio was almost killed by my fault. I don't want this to happen again."

"Even if they destroyed the Peak village?"

Gre's eyes widened and his head immediately turned to the garchomp, who added:

"Many corpses were found."

Gre was ready to kill him, his look was now murderous:

"Are you trying to incite me to join you with something I love?"

"Nope. I'm just trying to say if you don't hunt them, you let some killers free without doing anything."

Gre calmed down. But he was worried about Durry:

"Did you see a Conqueldurr?"

The Charizard decided to answer:

"No. But I don't give him many chances to be still alive."

The dark type was almost crying, thinking of Durry being dead and his home being destroyed was horrible. He stayed silent for a long while staring at the ground, wondering what he should have done to help the village and Lurio especially. Now he wanted to avenge the village, Durry and Lurio. Those Lucarios almost killed everything he loved. He closed his fist strongly:

"They deserve to know what pain Lurio and many others felt."

A Chansey suddenly showed up from the infirmary:

"Greninja, the lucario is waking up."

When Lurio woke up. He saw several Chanseys standing all around him. He got up but the Chanseys stopped him:

"Please calm down. Your injuries aren't completely gone..."

"Where am I?" the Lucario asked hurriedly.

"At the camp near of the Peak forest. A Garchomp, a Charizard and a Greninja brought you here. But please wait a little the treatments are almost finished."

He nodded and waited until he completely recovered. Then he left the infirmary after thanking the Chanseys and saw Gre who immediately ran and hugged him:

"I was so scared you may be gone forever..." He said in a sad tone.

"I'm sorry for worrying you."

"No... that was my fault if he almost killed you..."

"No! It wasn't! I did choose to come there and I knew the risks. Don't blame yourself because of my choice."

The Greninja stayed silent. Then he just said:

"Okay..."

Lurio looked around, searching if the Garchomp and the Charizard were here:

"Where are the Charizard and the Garchomp?"

"There."

The voice was from the Charizard, behind him with the Garchomp. The fighting type turned around hurriedly.

"Don't worry I won't burn you or something."

Lurio still didn't drop his guard and stared at the Charizard and the Garchomp, wary.

"Hey you didn't listen to us so it's normal you got beaten down kid." the Garchomp said.

"Even if it's kinda true, we didn't want to kill you. Remember that thunder punch? I did that to neutralize you. If I wanted to kill you, a flamethrower was perfect. By the way we found the Greninja and brought him to stop his head bleeding. If we didn't come, he would be dead right now."

The Lucario was ashamed to have attacked so nice people. He wanted to excuse himself but Gre talked first:

"Lurio." He stopped for a moment but continued: "The Lucario destroyed the Peak village..."

"Oh no..." Lurio got his eyes widened, his heart started to beat faster and he was shaking his head. Trying to not imagine the village's state and the possible deads. He asked: "Is Durry found?"

"We don't know." Gre answered.

Tears were shedding from the Lucario's eyes after this sentence. He didn't want him to be dead. There was a little hope for the conqueldurr to be alive. But it was little. Everyone stayed silent during a while, watching the Lucario staring at the ground, trying to believe his father survived. Suddenly he asked the Charizard:

"Where is the Lucario?"

"You mean "they"." Charles answered.

"There are several of them?"

"Yes. Let me explain what we know about them."

And he explained the story with the same way he did with Gre. When he understood the concept of mega-evolution, he just asked:

"How do they do this?"

"Well..." the Charizard stayed silent for a moment but decided to continue: "It's thanks to a rare stone. We don't know how to find it and how to make it neither. It's still a secret for the scientists."

"Okay."

The Charizard seemed to understand perfectly his intentions. Lurio knew it would be really lucky to find a rock like this but he had to, so he would able to fight those Lucarios and make them pay for what they did.

"So you want to join us?" Charles asked.

"Of course." Gre and Lurio answered together.

"Alright then." the Garchomp replied. "There is a rumor about weird lucarios seen in Firstone city."

"The travel will last like four days." Charles added.

"That's far..." Gre commentated.

"But it's our only information. So we have to go there kid."

When they were about to go, the fire type turned to Lurio:

"I forgot to introduce myself. I am Charles and the garchomp is Gaby. We're bounty hunters."

Gaby greeted with his sharp arm.

"Lurio." told the Lucario.

Charles smiled and decided to lead the group:

"Let's go then."

The group left the camp, heading to Firstone city, in front of the sunrise.

**End of chapter 3**

* * *

How was it? You can review to tell me how it was if you want. The wait for chapter 4 will be surely longer, so please be patient. The story won't be completely focused on the lucarios but I'll try to make every part of the story at least interesting.


	4. Chapter 4: Firstone

Hello. It's been a long time for real.

Sorry for the wait, I had problems to deal with but this chapter is finally out. And I'm kinda proud of what it is ^^.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

* * *

**Chapter 4: Firstone**

It's been 3 days the group began their travel to Firstone. Lurio discovered landscapes he never saw before. They travelled into different ones like the yellow plains. This one catched the Lucario's attention. Seen from far away, those plains really looked like completely yellow because of the many yellow flowers planted. There were some trees placed at random places with fruits growing on the branches. It was a really calm place. There was only the light breeze blowing across the flowers and leafs on the trees. Lurio stopped sometimes to listen the wind and the dancing leafs. The others called him each time his mind was somewhere else. Then they finally arrived at Firstone city. The buildings were as tall, maybe even taller than Shatmeen's buildings. Except they were made of red rocks and the roofs were tiled. The main building was at the center of the place, composed of three buildings, the center one was larger and taller. The city was connected to a red mountain, that's probably why the buildings were mostly made of red rocks. The streets were larger, making the Lucario feeling not as tall as he did in Shatmeen. There is many guards patrolling and the combat type did only see fire types. When they arrived at the front door of the main building, Gaby explained what to do:

"Well we're here. I'm going to try to talk to the city leader with Charles. You two wanna come?"

"I do." Gre answered.

"I won't, I want to explore the city for a bit and see what I can find." Lurio answered.

The Garchomp nodded: "Alright then. We'll wait you here when we're finished."

And they went in. The Lucario began to walk at random places, watching the different shops and the patrols. He wondered why so many patrols were in the city. Is the city leader scared of something or someone?

"Hey."

He turned around to see a Magmortar looking at him, closely, this voice was familiar.

"It's been a while then."

"Umm... Did we..."

"You tried to blow me up a while ago."

Lurio recalled. The Magmortar was Mack. He did a step bakwards.

"Do not be wary. I forgived you for that."

He took a normal position again, still wary. He decided to finally talk:

"Yeah. It's been a while..."

They both stayed silent, not knowing what to say. The Lucario noticed the Magmortar was trying to say something. The fire type decided to finally spit out:

"I'm sorry."

"For what?" Lurio answered hurriedly before he could understand why.

"For hurting you. I was just a kid and uhh... making you fight me was stupid."

Mack seemed sincere. His face was clearly telling he was regretting his acts.

"Don't worry. I forgived you too. And I was feeling something was wrong."

"What?" Mack looked really surprised by this observation.

"Yeah you didn't seem to really want to do this."

"You must be wrong. I was secretly a bully and nobody knew."

"Really? Then why did you tell me you had to do this?"

The Magmortar stayed silent, searching an answer to this. He was clearly trying to hide something to me. But what? He finally answered:

"I did tell you that just to make an excuse. That's all..."

"Yeah..." the Lucario was sceptical to this answer.

A Typhlosion called Mack, ordering him to rejoin the group. He nodded and went off while waving at Lurio. This conversation was weird. Mack was still hiding something, even after such a long time. It must be something important in his life if he had to hide it for a long time. The blue furred Pokémon returned to the main building, with Gaby, Charles and Gre waiting.

"So how was it?"Lurio asked.

"They didn't want us to meet this guy." Gaby answered. "They said the rumors were only rumors and they don't have poofs to tell that the Lucarios are here."

"We'll probably stay awake in the night to see what would happen." the Charizard added.

Lurio nodded and suddenly he saw on his left a lopunny staring at them behind a wall. She noticed he spotted her and went away quickly. The Lucario sprinted towards her direction and when he reached the alley where she was. She was completely gone. The others joined him:

"What did you see?" Gre asked.

"A Lopunny. She was spying at us behind this wall..."

"You are sure?" Charles asked.

"Yeah, if you run away when we notice you, that's the case right?"

"Well it can be..." Gaby answered. "Anyway, we also decided to ask the citizens if they saw something. If you see that Lopunny again, just go ask her why she ran away."

"Alright." Lurio nodded.

The rest of the day was just about sicking informations in vain. People either say "no", either they say they thought seeing something strange the other day. But every time a guard who was passing by said there was nothing at this place. The Lucario was getting tired of all of this. The Lopunny was nowhere, he looked everywhere but no sign of them. The day was becoming more strange with Mack's secret and the Lopunny. He ended getting outside, to watch the sunset. Gre also joined him:

"Something on your side?" the Greninja asked.

"No. What about you?"

"Nothing and the others neither. We should probably go tomorrow."

"No, not yet."

"Why? It's for that Lopunny?"

"There is someone else... Mack."

Gre's eyes widened, recalling immmediately who he was: "He's here?"

"Yeah, and he's still hiding something from me..."

"What do you mean?"

"When we were kids, he told me he had to bully that child. Now he told me it was just an excuse but I don't believe him."

"I see."

They stayed silent for a moment, contemplating the sun. They sat on the grass and was now waiting for Gaby and Charles. Lurio decided to meditate for a moment. He was feeling the soft breeze blowing on his body, hearing the different noises of the city, the grass, his own breathing. It was becoming lower, until the silence took place. He felt his own aura, visualizing it. It had the Lucario's shape, blue, burning. Suddenly he saw another one, it was bigger, agitated, more powerful, the blue was lighter, it was more powerful. Then it turned to the red. The aura was becoming hostile and began to invade his whole vision. He was only seeing red.

"Lurio."

The aura had the eyes opened, they were red, like blood. It was staring at him.

"Lurio?"

His head began to hurt. Suddenly a voice came out. A really deep one:

"We are... the Lucarios... we are..."

"Lurio!"

He woke up. He almost fell backwards, breathing loudly. It was almost the night. Gre was sitting in front of him, worried. With Mack behind him.

"Lurio, are you okay?" Gre asked.

"Uhh... yeah. Just... a nightmare."

"You're sure?"

"Yeah, don't worry too much."

He wasn't sure at all. It was a strange dream. The red aura was powerful. It looked the same as the lucario they met a while ago. But the voice was completely unknown from him. He didn't hear the full sentence but... it seemed familiar...

"You were meditating for like one hour buddy." Mack added.

"Oh. But you're here?"

"My work is finished. I'm free for now."

"Mack came and told me how he got there." Gre said.

"My family moved here just after our little battle and I entered in the military academy of Firstone."

"That's why you disappeared." the Lucario commentated.

"Yeah kinda."

The Magmortar looked around and stepped backwards.

"Well I gotta go, bye guys."

Gre and Lurio waved at him. The Garchomp and the Charizard finally joined them, tired. Gaby decided to begin the complaints:

"Only rumors, rumors... I'm pissed off of this."

"Do not get angry, for now." Charles calmed him down, decided to control himself. "Well we didn't find something. We'll still stay awake during the night. In case something would happen."

The others nodded and returned inside of the city. Torches have been lighten up. The city had now a sinister aspect. Guards were still patrolling in the streets, less numerous than before. The group stayed near of the main building, trying to be discreet. Lurio began to want to sleep after a few hours. His eyes were almost closing but Gre helped him staying awake by slapping gently his face. Gre was used to stay awake in the night thanks to his experience as a bounty hunter. The Lucario was now watching the sky, full of little stars. Surprisingly, it helped him to stay awake. Suddenly he saw a figure on the roofs. It was moving. The Lucario stood up and told his mates:

"There's someone on the roofs!"

"What?" the others said together.

They all looked upwards and saw it. Garchomp looked bothered:

"Go on. I'll try to follow you down here."

"Why?" Gre asked.

"Gaby is heavier than you think." Charles explained with a smile.

Gre and Lurio climbed up a building and, arrived at the top, the mysterious Pokémon noticed them and ran away. The two followed it, trying to catch it up. The Charizard took off and flew towards the running figure. It was fast and were able to jump over the void between the buildings. Gre was catching up while Lurio was still behind, trying to be as fast as the Greninja was. Lurio began to recognize the figure thanks to its big ears. Her big ears. The Lopunny looked behind, panicked. She seemed to not want to fight. The guards who were down noticed them and yelled at them to immediately stop. They weren't listening so what they feared happened: two Chandelures were sent on the roofs and two Talonflames took off to stop them. A Talonflame took the Lopunny as a target. The others aimed for the group. The two Chandelures blocked the way of Gre and Lurio and were ready to fire. Charles seemed to know what to do:

"Lurio, continue to follow that Lopunny! Gre, help me to take care of these guys!"

"But Gre is the best for..." the Lucario protested.

"Yeah but you can't do much things against them, especially against those Chandelures. And even if you know darkpulse they won't let you do it and they'll focus on you! So go now!"

Lurio nodded and jumped over the two specter types. When they were about to shoot a flamethrower, Gre threw into them a water shuriken, hurting one of them.

"Let him go! I'm yours now!"

The Lucario ran as fast as he can. The lopunny was far away but he faster. The Talonflame did a flare blitz towards her but she did an acrobatic jump high enough to dodge it. The Talonflame almost flought into a building. When he turned around, he noticed the Lucario and decided to ignore it. Lurio, seeing this, accelerated, his fear of the flying type to attack him disappeared. He was now closer of the Lopunny but they were close to the edge of the city. She was about to escape. He had to be faster! Fortunately, the Talonflame managed to block the way of the normal type. She fell backwards by surprise. He was getting closer but his eyes widened when the fire type was about to do a flare blitz towards his two targets. He jumped aside and the Talonflame did the attack. Lurio expected to see the Lopunny being thrown but what happened was the contrary: she did a backward roll and held to the edge of the building's roof. The Talonflame was this time surprised and flought into a building. He fell unconscious at the impact and fell on the ground. He was knocked out. Lurio came closer of the Lopunny, wanting to help her.

"Please don't be scared. I don't want to hurt you."

She stayed silent but nodded. He pulled her out and when she was standing on the roof, Lurio finally asked:

"So why did you run away?"

She stayed silent again. The Lucario felt that she was scared of something. She was scared of him but there was something else, which scared her more than him. She finally answered, with uneasiness:

"I... I can't tell you."

"What are you scared of? You can tell..."

But she ran away. She jumped over the high walls and disappeared. Gre and Charles catched him up. Seeing him alone, Charles asked:

"Where is she?"

"She ran away. She was scared of something though."

"That's maybe the reason why she was acting so."

"How can you tell that?"

"I have experience kid."

Suddenly several guards appeared on the roof where they were standing on. A Typhlosion was the officer and began to threat them:

"You're surrounded! Surrender or we'll open fire!"

Charles tried to resonate:

"Officer, let me explain you..."

"Don't bother me. You are with that Lopunny aren't you? Your friend the lucario helped her by knocking out our Talonflame adn let her go! So..."

"That talonflame just flought into the building right over there! I didn't do anything!" Lurio replied, pointing the damaged building.

"Yeah yeah and I'm..."

Charles tried to resonate again: "Officer let me talk please. We were pursuiting that lopunny because she was suspicious. We aren't with her or something like that. My mate here helped her so he would gain her confidence so he'd be able to have some answers. Unfortunately it didn't work."

"How can I tell you aren't lying?"

The Charizard opened his bag and pulled out a paper. It was his certificate of bounty hunter.

"I am a bounty hunter like the Greninja here. The Lucario is a close friend of him."

The Typhlosion seemed convinced. He did a sign to the other guards, telling them to not open fire.

"Okay. But the fact that four of my men are down because of you won't be forgotten. I authorize you to see our chief so you'll tell him why you're here and he'll tell you how to help us to get that Lopunny."

"What did she do officer?"

"He'll explain you."

They climbed down the building excorted by the guards. Gaby joined them, looking confused:

"What's going on?"

"We're going to see the city leader so come" Charles answered.

"Another friend?" The Typhlosion asked.

"Yes officer."

"Alright then."

When they reached the front doors of the main building, the doors opened, letting appear a big hall. There was a big round red and orange carpet and pillars were placed around it. The floor was wooden and stairs were leading to the next floor. The officer ordered his men to stay here and led the way to the group. They arrived at the last floor and there were a corridor leading to doors. The Typhlosion knocked them.

"Master I'm bringing some guys who were pursuiting the fugitive."

"Bring them." The master answered.

When the doors opened, an empty room appeared. There were a table with papers and a large window. An Arcanin were looking at the city, sitting down. He turned around and greeted to the group:

"Welcome."

The group thanked him and came closer. The Arcanine were staring at them, examining who were his guests. He then turned to the window again.

"So, why did you come to Firstone?"

Charles decided to talk to the city leader:

"We were supposed to see if the rumors were true."

"About the Lucarios? Well they're all false. No suspect pokemons or one looking like a weird Lucario were reported to me for now. Except that Lopunny."

"What did she do?"

"She is spying us for a long time. We warned her a long time ago but she continued. So we tried to arrest her several times ago but she always escaped."

"She's probably doing this by threat. My mate the lucario told me she was scared of something else than us."

"Well we already suggested it. But all I want is to capture that pest. So I want you to help us trap her."

"How?"

"We'll do a false meeting. We'll tell our men there will be an urgent meeting tomorrow night. And when she comes, you catch her."

"You're sure she'll believe that?"

"She's fast, but from what I saw, she's naive. I assure you." the Arcanine said in a smile.

The next day Lurio was sitting on a bench. Gre wasn't here anymore because of the plan. This day was calm. Not much people were out to do something like shopping. It was peaceful. Gaby brought some stuffed mushrooms with cheese from a restaurant for lunch. They were tasty, he really liked the taste of the cheese mixed with the mushroom's one. He was surprised to see that Gaby had brought some expensive food, they aren't really common these days.

"It was the less expensive meal I found. Don't expect us to be that rich."

When he finished his last mushroom, he wondered about the dream he had the other day. He wanted to see it again so he closed his eyes and focused. The wind was blowing, the sun was glowing. His breathing was slow. His surroundings became quiet. He now saw his aura, it wasn't different of what he saw before. Then the red aura appeared again. Its eyes opened and invaded the Lucario's vision. A voice came, but it was different from last time:

"Don't..!"

"Lurio?"

He woke up. Charles and Gaby were standing in front of him. Charles continued:

"Sorry for interrupting your meditation but we have to go. Now."

Lurio glanced at the sky, it was already the sunset. He was actually meditating for so long. So he nodded and went out with his mates. They were expected to the North-West of Firstone, where the Typhlosion was doing a briefing to his men. When they finally arrived, the officer didn't really care and continued his briefing. The plan wasn't too complicated. Flying types had to hide themselves to take the Lopunny in surprise. Big ones will be used to block the path and bring support. The others had to run after the fugitive. The group was part of "the others", except that Gaby wanted to stay down because of his "weight".

"You are sure you're that heavy? You don't look to." The Typhlosion commentated.

"We told me that so many times you know."

"That doesn't surprise me."

It was now night time. Everyone was hidden. Waiting. Some guards began to become asleep after three hours. So they chatted quietly to help themselves staying awake. Lurio noticed that Mack wasn't here. He found it weird because Mack was used to be a strong fighter when they were kids. It would surprise him if he backslided after this whole time. Then they suddenly heard a sound coming from upwards. Everyone stopped their chat and stayed quiet, watching the sky. Another sound came from the same spot. The Typhlosion whispered to Charles:

"Go with the Lucario."

The Charizard and the Lucario nodded. Lurio got onto Charles and they took off. Everyone followed them. When they reached the roofs level, they spotted the Lopunny. She was standing up and seemed to know what was going to happen. The guards showed up and all the others everywhere in the city. She was surrounded. The Typhlosion shouted:

"It's over. You're surrounded and this time you won't get away from us!"

The Lopunny was observing the zone. She looked worried but not panicked. She glanced at Lurio and said:

"Try to catch me then."

She suddenly jumped really high and landed on a Camerupt's head and jumped higher. Everyone started to shoot. She managed to dodge all the shots by twisting her body. Then she landed on the ground. Less guards were down. She was running really fast, actually faster than before. Charles and Lurio were flying near of her but she was getting away. Charles had an idea:

"Do an aura sphere!"

"But It will..."

"In front of her! It will slow her down. I'll try to catch her after!"

Lurio stood up on the Charizard's back and made an aura sphere. He had to aim carefully this time. He waited until he was sure and he shot. The sphere touched the ground right in front of her. She jumped aside to dodge it.

"Jump!" Charles ordered.

He jumped and Charles accelerated and came closer to the ground. He was about to grab the Lopunny. She noticed what he was going to do and did an acrobatic jump. The Charizard expected this to happen so he flought higher and was about to grab her again. She tried to dodge it but he was too fast. He did grab her. She tried for a moment to escape but it was in vain. So she did a charm attack. The Charizard was looking at her eyes but when he understood what was happening, he closed his eyes and at this moment the Lopunny did a strong kick at the Charizard's head, who almost dropped his prey. So she bit his hand strongly. This time he dropped her. Lucario seeing this, ran towards the Lopunny to grab her. But he noticed she was about to attack. With high jump kick. He stopped his run and leapt backwards. But just after he dodged, she stopped the move and landed safely. Lurio understood it was just a trick so she would be able to continue running. And she ran. Charizard followed her, his mouth bleeding, with Lurio. She was about to exit the city by the main door which was well guarded. A Talonflame was ready to stop the Lopunny if she wanted to jump. When she was getting closer, a sudden earthquake happened in her position, her leg was hit and it seemed to hurt pretty much. Lurio looked at the left and saw Gaby, coming closer of the Lopunny. Other guards came surrounding the fugitive.

"Gotcha." the Garchomp taunted.

But suddenly she leapt on his head and used it as a springboard and jumped higher. Gaby, in rage, stomped up the ground. A rock blade got out from the ground and hit one of the lopunny ears. She bounced on wall and jumped high enough to land the highwalls. When the Talonflame was about to do a brave bird move, she fell backwards and held on the wall, doing the same trick as before. But the flying type stopped in time and turned around to grab her. But the Lopunny leapt and prepared a real high jump kick this time. The Talonflame was too slow and received the kick on the back. He crashed into the ground due to the impact. He was stunned, so the Lopunny climbed the high walls while the guards were shooting at her. When she was out of the city, every guards were about to follow her but Charles stopped them:

"No! Let her go for now."

"Can I ask why?" the typhlosion asked, looking impatient.

"Someone is already following her."

"Who?"

Lurio looked at the Lopunny getting away, thinking:

"Now, it's your time."

And he turned back towards the guards, to explain what was happening.

Gre was right behind the Lopunny, well hidden. All his training was to make him one of the strongest bounty hunters in the country. And he had to prove it. During the whole day he analyzed the zone. Seeing the best hides to a certain situation. The main difficulty was his target's speed. He had to be quiet and fast. And the Lopunny was prudent. She often looked behind to see if someone was following her. He knew she didn't know he was there, because if she did, she would begin to run as fast as possible. From what he saw and heard, she is smart, but not an excellent fighter. She is able to take someone by surprise and she is fast but except that, in a duel she is weak. But it's only what he heard. Maybe she does know he's here and wants to take him by surprise, but that wouldn't be a good idea because of her injuries. So he was sure he wasn't being tricked for now. But he didn't expect the Lopunny to go that far. They were going really deep in the forest and now he had to improvise. Fortunaly he tought to plant painted rocks on his way so his mates would be able to follow them by far. Then a big problem arrived: they reached some plains. No hiding place were there. He decided to hide for a moment in a bush near of the forest and wait until it would be difficult to notice him. When the Lopunny was really far, he ran towards some hills really fast. He crouched at the top and looked towards the Lopunny's last position: she wasn't here anymore. Nobody. He immediately ran towards her last position. Still nobody. She literally disappeared. He had to keep his calm and not panic. The Lopunny was maybe hiding somewhere. So he checked the whole area, running in the plains, looking everywhere. But still no sign of the Lopunny.

"Keep your calm. If you panic, it'll be worse." he said to himself.

But Gre really didn't know where his target was. He was really confused and had to act quicky. Then he noticed a pile of rock at the bottom of a hill. She was maybe hiding after all. Or even living here. If he was right, he should be quiet while removing the rocks. So he analysed his approach, which rock to remove first. After a moment, he finally began. He removed each carefully and quietly. After he removed some rocks, he saw some light. That was probably his target's hideout. When he was able to enter in the little cave, he walked near of a wall and looked at the next room discreetly. She was there on a bed, treating her injuries with some herbs and bandage. The room was atually big, with a bed at the right wall, a table with many papers on it at the opposite wall. Many shelves with a closet were at the bottom of the room. She didn't know he was there. He wondered if he should wait the others. But he decided to act now. He had the advantage and he should make the lopunny unable to flee. So that was it then. He showed up in an offensive position. The lopunny immediately stopped what she was doing and jumped of surprise. She stared at the greninja, scared and searched a way to escape. Gre started to warn her:

"Don't try to escape, I just want to..."

Then the normal type's eyes became shiny and stared at the water type. Gre tried to close his eyes with difficulty. His vision began to become pink, focusing on the Lopunny. He began to like the Lopunny. He was still trying to close his eyes. He was trained against the charm attack. He had to resist. He began to walk towards the Lopunny. He had to control himself again. But how? Then he finally remembered. He slapped himself very strongly. He stopped walking and his vision returned to normal. He wasn't charmed anymore but the Lopunny wasn't here anymore. She was right behind him, about to flee. When she noticed he wasn't charmed anymore, she ran towards the exit but Gre immediately grabed her arm. She was trying to free her arm but Gre pulled her closer and placed his other arm below the normal type's grabbed arm, lifted her and knocked her down on the ground. The Lopunny was stunned enough to let the Greninja create a water suriken and threat her:

"Now, tell me what I want to know."

"What?" She answered rudely.

"Why are you doing all of this?"

Then he heard some steps coming towards them. He turned round, ready to attack. Then he saw Gaby. He dropped his guard and the Garchomp talked the first:

"Good job Gre. Did she say something?"

"Not yet. I didn't begin the interrogatory."

"Then let's start now shall we."

"But where are the others ?"

"They're coming."

Other steps were coming. He looked outside and saw Charles flying and Lurio running.

Lurio noticed Gre and guessed he did his job. When he reached the hideout he noticed the lopunny laying down who noticed him too. Then he asked to Gre:

"Are you alright?"

"Yes. I just knocked her down, except that she isn't too injured."

Lurio turned to the Lopunny and asked the same question:

"What about you?"

"Do I really need to tell you?"

"Well okay."

They brought the Lopunny at the bottom of the cave, the back next to the wall. The Charizard spoke to the Lopunny:

"We've been told that you were spying Shatmeen fro a long while. Tell us why and for who. We'll let you go after this."

"Why would you do that?"

"The Lucario here told me you were scared of something. You know that Lucarios are able to guess the others feelings right? So all I want to know is what does scare you."

The Lopunny stayed silent, looking upset. Lurio knew they touched something right into her. Charles continued:

"Look, we'll let you go and no guards are behind us to arrest you I promise. I'm Charles, the Greninja is Gre, the Lucario Lurio and my friend the Garchomp is Gaby. Now you know our names. Now what's your name?"

Lurio didn't know if it was going to work. The Lopunny was still sitting there, quiet. Charles was patient. It was visible that the Charizard had experience and knew what to do to gain someone's trust. Then the Lopunny finally answered:

"Lola."

"Right so can you explain to us why you're acting so Lola?"

Lola stayed silent again. She hesitated for a moment but she decided to answer:

"I can't. It's personal."

"Probably but we need this to get you out of this mess. We'll help if you want."

Lola's eyes widened.

"Really? Why?"

"Because it's kinda my job. Helping people for money. Except that I won't ask money this time because it's always a pleasure to help someone."

She stayed silent. All they had to do was to see if they gained her trust. Charles seemed to already know the answer. But then she said with a scared tone:

« If I talk, I'm dead"

"Then we'll protect you."

The Lopunny was surprised by the offer.

"But why?"

"As I said: it's always a pleasure to help someone."

The lopunny seemed to hesitate. She seemed to be worried, but it seemed they gained her trust.

« I... they... You can't. They will...»

"What makes you say that? Who are they?"

"They... They didn't tell me their name or what they are. But I saw them in action, they're too many, you can't..."

"What did they do?"

"I was in a archaeological site with other archaeologists at the north. Suddenly they came, killed everyone and jailed me. Then they told me to spy this city. I don't even know why..."

"But where are they?"

"They're always moving."

"How many are they?"

"Hundreds of..."

Suddenly a shot came behind them. A fire ball traversed the room quickly and hit Lola's head. There was an explosion at the impact, making Charles hit too. The room was invaded by the smoke which went outside. When they were able to see again, the Lopunny was laying down. She was burning, the eyes were widened and the mouth opened. The head was the most burned part of the body. Lola was killed. Charles wasn't too injured but when he saw this he roared loudly with rage and looked behind to see the fire blast's author. When Lurio turned around he was shocked: Mack was standing there, his cannon, ready to fire, had smoke going out of it.

"Mack! Why?!" Lurio shouted.

Mack answered in a dark tone:

"Sorry Lurio, but I had a job. And orders are orders."

Lurio didn't understand. The Firstone guard did send him to kill Lola? But weren't the group supposed to take care of this all alone?

"Now follow me, I advice you to do what I say."

Lurio was about to refuse but Charles did the sign to obey for now, even if he also wanted to refuse. So they followed Mack outside and saw many guards with the typhlosion. The Charizard wanted explanations:

"Why did you come?! We told you we were going to take care of this all alone!"

"Because we had orders." the Typhlosion answered simply.

"From who?! Your chief told us to just capture..."

"To kill her just after."

The Charizard was shocked by that:

"But... why?"

"So it would be easier to you to accept helping us."

"You know that it's illegal right? I'm not going to let you in peace after that."

« Then we'll simply kill you."

Lurio was shocked. The guards were now ready to kill them any time soon. The Lucario never experienced this, he didn't know how to react. But Charles didn't seem surprised:

"I expected you would say that."

And he did a dragon pulse on the Typhlosion who was sent right into a hill. Gre immedately did a waterfall attack right into a Camerupt who was knocked down right after. The Greninja then jumped high and threw several water shurikens at the enemies. Garchomp prompted an earthquake, hitting a Torkoal and a Heatmor. Lurio attacked a Chandelure with dark pulse right before he was able to shoot a fire blast, surprisingly it resisted to the attack and shot his fire blast. The Lucario rolled aside in time and ended the Chandelure with another dark pulse. Despite the many down guards, there were still many of them. The Typhlosion was still conscious and shouted:

"You are maybe stronger than each of us but you can't beat all of us at the same time! Let me introduce you one of the most dangerous beast in this world!"

Suddenly a loud and long roar came. Everyone stopped moving. The guards were now smiling, they seemed to know what was going to happen. Flames spouted behind a hill. A scary figure appeared, something that Lurio never saw before. It had four legs and his body was brown spotted of grey and orange. His feet and his horned head were in steel. His wild eyes were orange. When it appeared, it roared again to announce his presence. Lurio was intimidated by the creature, he felt a dangerous power coming from it. Charles immediately warned him:

"Don't stay near! It's an Heatran!"

The Heatran spitted giant flames from his mouth towards the Lucario. Lurio dodged it too late and his leg has been hit. He yelled of suffer because of the intense pain. Never a flamethrower was that powerful before. He rolled on the ground. The other guards were coming back to the fight. Lurio did an aurasphere towards a Heatmor to prevent him to not approach more but it dodged it. Gre ran into the Lucario to carry him to keep him away from them. Then he made some appearing on his hand and gripped hardly the burned leg to try to heal it.

"Is it better?" Gre asked quickly.

"Better than just before." Lurio answered.

The Heatran went down and joined the guards. Gaby and Charles joined the two and Charles told them:

"I fear we have to go."

"Why?" Gre asked. "We are able to beat them I'm sure."

"We were until that Heatran came. Don't underestimate it. There are two Infernapes who have ice punch and they're focusing on Gaby and a Magcargo almost touched me with a stone edge and his well protected. I can't do anything against the Heatran."

"But it seems to.."

"Yeah to be a steel type. But that's all the trick. He actually is but he is invulnerable to fire."

"Then I can take him down."

"As I said, don't underestimate his power."

The Heatran suddenly planted his front feet strongly and the ground began to crack towards the group.

"Earthpower!" Gaby shouted.

The group scattered and lava spoutted from the ground. The Heatran roared again. All the guards were now about to attack. An Infernape went for the Garchomp and was about to deal him an ice punch. Gaby moved aside to dodge it and grabbed the Infernape and knocked him into the ground. The enemy tried to get out but Gaby did an earthquake and he was borrowed in the rocks, unconscious, really injured. Stone blades were appearing on the battlefield, aiming the Charizard. When Charles saw an opportunity he immediately peaked towards the Magcargo. But suddenly He stopped his move and a stone edge appeared right in front of him and injured his arm. He had to retreat while other guards were shooting at him. Lurio was now against the Typhlosion:

"Do you really think being able to beat me?" The officer taunted.

"We don't know if I'm stronger than you yet." Lurio replied.

"I'll give an answer. And quickly."

The Typhlosion formed a ball with his hands and threw it towards the lucario. It was faster than expected but Lurio jumped aside in time and threw an aurasphere at his adversary. But the Typhlosion rolled aside and began to run around the Lucario, surprisngly really fast. Lurio was prepared to dodge any attack. Then the officer was glowing. Lurio felt a big danger coming from him. Then he exploded. The Lucario was surprised and jumped backwards but it wasn't enough. He was touched by the eruption but not too much. If he didn't jump it would have been the end. The pain was horrible and he had to sit to rest a bit. When the smoke almost disappeared, a figure was approaching fast. He had to move. The Typhlosion was running right into the Lucario with a threatening smile. Lurio ran with the pain but was caught up. So, with the intense pain, he jumped backwards really high. The Typhlosion stopped his running, surprised and Lurio prepared an aurasphere and threw it. The Typhlosion din't react in time and was't able to dodge it. There was an explosion at the impact and the Typhlosion yelled in pain. After a moment, Lurio sat, exhausted. The Typhlosion was finally down, but Lurio was almost. He was really weak against fire so winning this fight surprised him, and surving in this battlefield too. Suddenly a figure jumped from the smoke was about to land on the Lucario. He wanted to dodge but it was too late. The Typhlosion landed on Lurio and grabbed his neck.

"You're weak. And now I'll murder you for injuring me you little metal rat!" He said in a threatening and dark tone.

And he was glowing again. Lurio began to panick but quickly regained his calm but he had to be quick. He wanted to do an aurasphere but the officer took one his arm and held it strongly. But Lurio immedately recovered his free punch with ice and hit the typhlosion's head. He let the Lucario free and moaned. He was still able to stand but he wasn't glowing anymore. So he was about to attack again but Lurio already prepared an aurasphere to end him, teeth grasped. The aura sphere was bigger and was thrown towards the Typhlosion. His eyes widened and jumped really high to dodge the aurashpere. It exploded at the impact against a hill. Lurio looked at the Typhlosion, staring at him. Lurio noticed he had more auras on his hands, he didn't do any boost attack though. Maybe some last chance energy or something similar. He read in the typhlosion some surprise and fear.

"Next time, I'll send you in hell." The tTphlosion said before he went out

Lurio almost fell. He was exhausted and really weak. This combat was definitely too much to him. Gaby joined him:

"Are you okay buddy?"

"Really... weak." the Lucario answered.

Gre and Charles joined them, he seemed tired.

"We have to retreat there's too many of them." Charles said, exhausted.

He was right. Even if Gre and Garchomp were able to take more Pokémons than Charles and Lurio, they're getting tired and them not. Gre was the most tough but he began to have difficulties to dodge all the attack he had to deal with. Lurio was the most tired of the group after his fight.

"Gaby try to follow me, I'll carry the two." Charles told.

The Garchomp nodded. Charles took Gre and Lurio despite his injured arm, bleeding not too much. And he took off under the enemy's fire. He flew really quickly followed by Gaby doing earthquakes to keep the guards away. After a while, they landed in a forest near of Firstone. It was the sunset. Guards were guarding the entrance. They were sure they would kill them if they see them. Gaby used some medics to heal the injuries of everyone thanks to his bag. Gre asked:

"What is happening?"

"I don't know." Charles answered.

Then a silence took place. But Charles broke it with a gasp:

"What is it?" Gaby asked.

"I'm thinking about their badges. If what I'm thinking is true, we have to stop them immediately."

"Why?..."

Sounds were coming from the city, they decided to approach carefully to unerstand what was happening. A voice talked:

"My dear citizens..."

It was the Arcanine.

"I called you this early because today is a special day. Today is the beginning of a new era, a day when we'll be able to reverse the rules. To show what we're able to do. To show that the Steel Federation isn't alone and can be beaten. Finished the tyranny of this empire. Finished those rules restraining our liberties. Finished those mandatory works. My comrades and I will show you we can form the strongest empire in this world if we work hard. But what empire you may ask? An empire where liberty is the main word, where you are able to go everywhere and where help is everywhere. A world where liberty and the population are like a blaze in a forest: Invincible! So join us. We will take back what is ours! One of the strongest empire awaits you, everyone can join us, just try to be useful in your manner. With your help, we can burn the Steel Federation, make them know hell. We are..."

"Oh no..." Charles said.

"The Hell Army!"

**End of Chapter 4**

* * *

If you want to react, please do. The next chapter will appear probably in May. But I'm not sure.

Thanks for the wait.


	5. Chapter 5: The Hell Army

Hello, so well it's finally here.

Again, I didn't have much time to write. But at least, that one doesn't look bad. So here it is.

Enjoy!

**Disclamer: I don't own Pokémon**

* * *

**Chapter 5: The Hell Army**

Gaby stared at Charles. Both seemed to understand the danger but the Charizard seemed to know more about the "Hell Army".

"What is the Hell Army?" Lurio asked.

Charles looked at the Lucario, worried:

"...something dangerous. Which was supposed to have vanished years ago."

He paused. The Charizard looked around and looked at the group again. Lurio, like Gre, wanted to know more about the Hell Army. Gaby seemed to just want to know what to do now though.

Charles finally began: "The Hell Army was a military organization which had as a goal to take down the Steel Federation and establish a new order, supposed to make the people "free". But soon, their real objective has been discovered: they actually planned to transform the country into a powerful empire and start conquering the nearby kingdoms thanks to the brute power. I thought it disappeared after their leader's death and the lack of members, like many others. But it seems not. And those guys maybe not alone."

Gaby understood what he meant: "You think that other cities are ruled by a commander of the Hell Army?"

"Yeah."

"But how are we supposed to stop that?" Gre asked.

"For now, I don't know. The Steel Federation isn't nearby. So trying to get some help will let them expand their influence. And we can't just get in and eliminate everyone. There's too many of them."

"The Arcanine is clearly their boss. Of this group at least. We should find a way through the mess and silence this guy." The Garchomp suggested.

"Well you're right. But of course, the main problem is how..." Charles answered.

Everyone stayed silent, trying to find the answer. Lurio while everyone was wondering, looked around their position to see if anyone was approaching. For now no one was coming and the sun was beginning to illuminate the city, which more seemed to be a fortress actually, with all the guards around it. After a while, when Gre brought boerries to eat for the breakfast from the nearby forest, Charles finally had an idea:

"That sounds simple, but we'll need a distraction."

"Yep, that sounds basic." Gaby replied, who seemed sceptic for what the plan seems to be.

"Well... not that much. At night time, Gaby and I will attract as many guards as we could, I'll take care the flying ones and Gaby the remainders. Gre will climb that tower during the mess but do it fast. The Arcanine isn't an idiot by far, he will understand what we're up to quickly enough to stop you if you're too slow. Lurio will assist you from behind in case troubles would await you. What do you think?"

"I trust you. Let's hope it will work." Gaby answered

"I don't have a better idea so I'm in." Lurio agreed.

Gre nodded, he seemed ready. Assassination was his speciality. Lurio was now thinking about Mack. He knows that Mack changed thanks to his ability to read someone's mind. But the fact he joined the Hell Army was contradictory. Mack became someone nice so joining an organisation which goal is to expand its power doesn't make any sense. Then Lurio noticed something. When Mack killed Lola, he appeared cold, ready to kill because "orders are orders". But he was actually in conflict in his mind. On a side he was telling himself « Why am I doing this? It wasn't necessary... » and on the other side « You had to do it. » Something was clearly pushing him to do that. Lurio had to find out what it was. And it had maybe a link with his secret. He was thinking about all of this while looking at the fortress, illuminated by the sun, with many guards around it and on the high walls. Then he noticed something: a Magmortar talking with the Typhlosion. They were really far but the aura vision was enough to see that the Magmortar was Mack. Obviously the Lucario wasn't able to hear what they were saying or read their thoughts. Seeing this made him want to help Mack even more. Something was really disconcerting the magmortar for a long time.

It was night time. The group splitted into two groups. Gre and Lurio were hidden behind the high walls, guards were watching at the top. They were two, a Chandelure and a Darumanitan. Other guards were placed far enough to enable Gre to eliminate both. The Greninja created a big water shuriken and climbed quickly the wall and leapt right in front of the fire types. He immediately dealt the Darumanitan a violent blow with the shuriken at the head before he was able to understand the action. It exploded at the impact and the enemy was knocked down, bleeding due to the sharp of the shuriken. The Chandelure was about to do an energy ball, Gre was ready to dodge it. But Lurio immediately showed himself right behind the specter Pokémon and he formed dark energy with his hands and a beam ploughed into the Chandelure and knocked him down making him fall onto the ground. Nobody saw the action. They jumped and landed onto the ground silently and hid the themselves behind a building. Gre brought the uncouscious Chandelure with them.

"How are we going to hide the bodies? Especially the Darumanitan?" Lurio asked.

"We won't. As Charles said, we have to act fast. Hiding them would take too much time and that Darumanitan seems heavy and he's especially bleeding. Cleaning this mess would take way too much time." Gre answered.

Lurio nodded. He was impressed by the professionalism of Gre. He never saw the Greninja acting so for a long time since he quit the village. And he was showing the experience he acquired with the time. One infernape was walking near of the main building. Gaby and Charles had to act, the infernape didn't have the intention to go away and go neutralizing him would be a risk. They don't know if other guards were near or not. Suddenly there was a loud noise followed by an earthquake. All guards ran towards the source. The distraction was there.

"Let's go." Gre told to Lurio.

They ran towards the main building's wall and began to run on it. Many noises came frome the brawl. Orders from the officers yelling at their troops, explosions, flames... Despite the number of enemies, the Lucario was confident to the Garchomp and the charizard's combat skills. The thing that worries Lurio the most was the Arcanine, his aura was powerful and the Lucario has no doubts that he has much more experience than both of them. The next thing was Mack, should he fight him if they do meet him? They were getting higher and the top wasn't too far anymore. But suddenly right under Gre a window opened, Lurio wasn't able to react in time and an arm grabbed and attracted him in the building. The Typhlosion's face was right in front of him, showing his teeth with a threatening smile. The Lucario was at his mercy.

"Well well, who do we have here?" The Typhlosion asked happily.

Lurio gasped, aware of the danger, and was about to do a ice punch right on the face like the other evenig. But the Typhlosion immediately threw him backwards and the combat type rolled on the floor and his head stroke on a wall. His head hurting, he looked at the Typhlosion.

"It wasn't too hard to understand why your two friends are alone down here. Now I'll take care of you and..."

The Typhlosion stopped. His eyes widened and turned back quickly and formed an energy ball as fast as he could. Gre appeared suddenly, holding a water shuriken and the two Pokémons attacked at the same time. An explosion occured and the Typhlosion was repulsed backwards. Lurio formed an aura sphere and threw it. The fire type dodged it in time. He was in difficulty. He turned back again, expecting the Greninja to attack again. But Gre showed up faster than expected, charging right into him with a waterfall. The officer tried to block with his arms but he was repulsed again across the wall. The next room was a large corridor with stairs at the bottom. Mack was there. The Typhlosion was able to rebalance himself. He noticed the Magmortar and yelled at him:

"Lieutenant! Help me to take care of these guys!"

"What?" Mack answered, confused.

Gre charged the officer again with a water shuriken. The enemy defended himself with a focus blast. There was another explosion and both went to the next room. Lurio noticed Mack who noticed him too.

"Why are you still here?! You want to beat our boss?! Then you're idiots! You're no match to him!" Mack yelled in anger.

"Gre and I can do it and I'm sure you think so." Lurio replied.

"I don't!"

He rised his arm and shot a fire ball. The Lucario rolled aside. The ball exploded on the wall behind him, creating a hole to the next room. The Magmortar did not attack again, standing there, stearing at the Lucario. Lurio was reading in his mind that all he wanted was to him to go, far from this place. But at the same time, he thinks he has to kill him, to burn him, because that's what they want. After a few seconds, Mack finally talks:

"I'm sorry Lurio but if you insist, I have to eliminate you."

"I know that you don't want to. Who wants you to do this?" Lurio replied, trying to not put up a fight.

"What?! Stop reading my mind! Those thoughts are bad and I'm trying to make them disappear!"

Mack shot again. Lurio rolled aside again. He aimed the head this time.

"I'll make you regret your choice!" He threatened.

He shot again, and began to burst. Lurio dodged the first shot and ran on the wall and leapt, trying to land behind the magmortar. A shot touched his left arm, it was hurting pretty much. It was like his arm was burning in hell. Despite the pain, he landed behind Mack and threw an aura sphere towards him. But Mack dodged it just in time. Lurio was surprise by the mMgmortar's speed.

"Magmortars aren't that slow you know?" Mack said with a threatening smile.

He charged a shot. The cannon was emanating much heat and the hole was glowing. The Magmortar was about to shoot a fire blast, and Lurio was right in front of the cannon. He immediately jumped but Mack was fast enough to react in time and grab his tail with his other hand and landed him violently on the floor. He was about to shoot. The steel type could't go away in time. So he did an aura sphere and threw it into the cannon and the fire blast was shot. A powerful explosion happened at the impact and Lurio was sent away right through a wall and landed hardly in a storage room where there were many boxes. All his body was hurting like last night, especially his left arm. He looked at it and noticed that it was actually burning a bit. He immediately extinguished the fire, the arm was really injured because of the burn. He stood up and saw Mack approaching. He was injured too but not as much as the Lucario.

"Clever, as always." Mack commentated, kinda annoyed.

"Still powerful." Lurio replied.

"Heh, if you say so."

"If I have to die here, can I at least know why you are forcing yourself?"

Mack stayed silent.

"Please, I need to know." Lurio insisted.

"...for my honor." Mack finally answered

"What?"

"For my honor. My grand father and my father were officers in the Hell Army. When it disbanded, my father was part of the few people still believing into their dreams of power. And guess what? My entire family was giving her support. Except me..."

Lurio started to understand.

"Every time he was talking, I was quiet. Every time he was telling me something, I nodded. I obeyed. I made them think I was a nice and docile child. But I wasn't. I wanted to quit, to flee as far as I could of my family. I wasn't adhering to their ideals of power and everything. I just wanted a simple life when I could live in peace. But I couldn't. You see the day when I was stealing money to the chespin? I did it for my father because he wanted me to steal as much money as I could so we would help the Hell Army to get some. The fight was because he told me to beat down every person who attempt to stop me. After that day, we went for Firstone. You know the following."

Lurio didn't know what to say, Mack's life could be summarized with one word: obey. He's doing all of this because his family, his father, were forcing him to. He was scared of them, but he didn't try to go away. Not even one time, because of his fear.

"If you wanted to go away that much, why didn't you try to?" The Lucario asked.

"They're my family, I can't..." Mack answered.

"But it's not up to them to decide who you will become!"

"But..."

"And you have the power to! So why don't you just go away right now?!"

"Some like me tried and they're dead! My friends died! Why are you so naive by thinking I can flee without being pursuited by assassins?! There is no try!"

"So avenge them! Make the Hell Army disappear of your life! Again, it's your life!"

Mack didn't reply. He was looking at the ground.

Suddenly a wall explosed behind him. The Typhlosion appeared in the smoke, injured. He looked at Mack and noticed the Lucario.

"Lieutenant why is he still alive?!" He yelled at the magmortar.

"Sir, he is..." Mack tried to answer.

"I don't care! You are supposed to be our best Magmortar and I gave you orders so why is he not dead yet?! You were chatting or what?!"

"Orders..."

"Instead of repeating what I say, go..."

"Just shut up, I'm tired of this."

"What?"

"I'm tired of this. Always obeying. My power grew so why should I still obey like a mindless puppet? My entire life was just about obeying my father... and now, I'm tired of this and you won't change my mind!"

"Then you will die for what you just said! Even if you do flee, assassins will come for you!"

"Then I'll fight and kill them!"

He charged right into the Typhlosion and prepared another fire blast. The Typhlosion did the same. Gre, who came across the wall, saw what was going to happen and ran towards Lurio and yelled:

"Take cover! Now!"

They both hid themselves behind a wall and a really powerful explosion happened when the two fire types shot, blowing up a big part of the floor. A big hole were now here, the typhlosion were under them, unconscious, maybe dead. Mack was at the edge of the hole. Lurio ran towards him and used his aura vision. He was still alive, but weak. The Magmortar opened his eyes.

"So... how was it?" He asked with dfficulty.

"You were awesome." Lurio answered.

"You were right, I have the power. I was just scared." He stopped for a moment and continued. "I don't know if I can make it though. That was a powerful fire blast what he sent."

"You will. Don't say that."

"If I don't, please do something for me..."

"What is it?" The Lucario asked with difficulty.

"Make them suffer..."

His eyes closed. He was still breathing.

"He's still breathing, we have to do something or he'll die..." Lurio said.

"I don't know if we have the time... if only Charles was here." Gre replied.

"But we can't..."

"He would prefer you make them suffer for what they did instead of helping him. That's what he said."

There was a silence.

"...you're right."

Lurio stood up.

"I'll make his wish come true."

They used the stairs, decided to accomplish their mission.

They were now approaching the Arcanine. After a few roofs passed, they met a Salazzle and an Incineroar who were going down. The poison type spat out a toxic gas towards their two enemies. The two jumped aside to dodge the gas but the gas would probably get bigger with the time. Gre yelled at Lurio:

"I'll take the Salazzle! The other one is yours!"

He nodded and immediately noticed that the Incineroar was charging him, his body completely in fire. Lurio rolled aside just in time to dodge the flare blitz. If he touched him, he would be fainted right away. The Incineroars are reputed for their strength, but the lucario also know that they aren't really tenacious. An aura sphere should knock him down. When he was creating the aura sphere, the dark type did a sword dance. Aura was emanating from his body.

"I really have to not get touched." Lurio thought.

But the Incineroar was slow, so he had time. The aura sphere was ready to being thrown. The fire type roared loudly and his body was now in fire and charged. Lurio didn't understand the idea. But he still shot. The Incineroar dodged it by jumping high enough and now planned to crush the Lucario. The steel type was surprised by the risk taken by the dark type but he had to dodge quickly. He jumped backwards and when the Incineroar landed the floor cracked and shaked. He was stunned because of the recoil of his tactic. Lurio jumped and rised his leg. The incineroar didn't have enough time to get up and Lurio dealt the high jump kick in the dark type's back. A crack happened and the Incineroar yelled in pain before he fell unconscious. Lurio sighed of relief and looked at Gre. He already finished his part, the Salazzle was down, wet. Lurio found that fight not hard, but after his formerly fights, this one looked easy. Surprisingly the building wasn't that much inhabited. Maybe everyone was sleeping in the underground and the others were already out. Gre and Lurio were really lucky if that was the case. Lurio was actually worried. He was feeling something was wrong. To him, it was too calm. He told Gre his worries:

"You're right, I find this place too calm too."

Then they finally arrived. The doors were closed, but not locked. Gre looked behind Lurio to see if anyone was planning to attack them by surprise. Nobody. So they entered quickly and the Arcanine was here, still sitting down, watching the outside. Lurio and Gre approached, ready to attack at any moment. Then the Arcanine finally talked:

"Gentlemen, I'm sorry about not introducing myself completely before. I am Dorfnil, commander of the Hell Army. Actually I knew you would come. Your plan was what I expected from you."

Two Marowaks appeared at the two sides of the room. They had a dark skin and their staff were in fire. Dorfnil turned around, smiling.

"Now you know my name, that would have been a shame if you died without knowing it."

They were approaching, surrounding the two. The Arcanine finally said:

"Kill them."

The Marowaks leapt on their targets, ready to strike with their bone staffs. The two jumped backwards, dodging the attacks. One guard turned towards the Greninja and prepared to deal another slash. Gre created a water shuriken and shielded himself from it. The other one did a sword dance, increasing his aura. The Lucario charged an aura sphere and threw it. It touched the target and exploded. Lurio didn't know that Marowaks with a darker skin and a burning bone existed. Maybe their type isn't the same, he hoped they weren't ghost types. The Marowak appeared in the smoke, without any injury. They actually were ghost types. His bone suddenly became darker. That shadow bone was for Lurio, the Marowak charged towards him. He attempted to hit the Lucario many times with his bone with several quick attacks which Lurio dodged but the ghost type was suddenly about to deal a violent slash from his left. Lurio bent down and the bone almost touched his ears. But immediately after, the Marowak did another slash. He was just able to block it with his arms. At the impact, Lurio was repulsed, still able to fight. His arm was hurting, not as much as before but the knock was really strong. Lurio straightaway replied with a dark pulse. The ghost type wasn't able to dodge it and was hit. But he recovered quickly, despite the serious injuries. He seemed upset and his whole body ignited and rushed into the steel type. Lurio jumped high and the Marowak hit the wall, creating a hole. He didn't know where the Lucario was. The ghost type was at his mercy. A dark energy beam emerged from his hands and hit the Marowak, finishing him. When Lurio landed, he saw Gre dealing a vertical slash on the Marowak's head, knoking him down, Gre looked tired because of the fight. Suddenly, Gre got struck by a luminous object, which seemed to be electric. The Greninja was sent away and hit the wall, damaging it. He was out. The electric object was Dorfnil.

"That's one down." The Arcanine said, calmly.

Lurio stared at Gre, uncouscious. Then he glanced at Dorfnil. He felt anger dominating his mind.

"I did underestimate you." Dorfnil continued. « After all you managed to survive my embush. So those Marowaks were no match for both of you. Especially for your friend here. I'm sorry to announce that I didn't hold myself when I attacked."

He looked at Lurio, noticing his anger.

"Oh he's maybe something more than a friend? Because your anger is telling me he isn't just your friend. It's like he's your... brother."

Immediately his sentence finished, the Lucario charged an aura sphere, it was bigger than usual but he didn't care."

"I see that your aura increased due to your anger. How intimidating. Don't worry I will kill you nicely with a wild charge too, so we could write "Lurio and Gre got both killed by a wild charge"."

"Shut up!" Lurio yelled of anger.

Lurio threw the powerul aura sphere into the Arcanine. He straightaway moved so fast that Lurio didn't react before he got hit. the Lucario recovered and understood what just happened. Dorfnil used extreme speed to dodge the aura sphere and attacked. He had to calm down. Gre couldn't die because of a surprise attack, not like this. He looked again at the Greninja, still uncouscious.

"You know, I heard about really powerful Lucarios threatening people. If you were one, that would be disappointing." Dorfnil said.

Lurio didn't listen. He had to find a way to counter his extreme speed. Dorfnil wasn't in fire or something similar when he attacks. So attacking right before he strikes could injure him but that was risky. So maybe he should jump and do high jump kick to eliminate him. That was also risky but that was probably the only solution. The Arcanine prepared himself to attack again. Lurio concentrated. The fire type moved. The Lucario tried to follow the movements but he got hit immedately at the chest. It was hurting but not that much. He had to try again. The time between the moment he moved and he hit was short and the same as before. Lurio had guess when the right moment to jump. Dorfnil seemed amused.

"Too intimidated? If you don't want to fight, that will just be an execution." He commentated.

Lurio was silent. Dorfnil seemed to be annoyed by this. So he attacked again. Lurio jumped. But he got hit. That was too late. He spat out some blood at the impact and was repulsed further but was still able to recover, with difficulty. Dorfnil began to doubt of Lurio's plan and finally understood. He laughed:

"Haha! Are you really trying to counter my extreme speed?! You're more an idiot than I thought. I'd like to see that!"

Lurio felt his body getting weaker. He was maybe able to resist three extreme speeds but he wasn't sure if he was able to resist a fourth. But he concentrated. The Arcanine was just about to attack again. The lucario prepared his jump. When the arcanine moved, He immedately jumped. It was the the good one. The arcanine was about to hit but he didn't. He looked upwards and saw Lurio, about deal the high jump kick. He jumped backwards but it was too late. The combat type dealt his kick. But it was not in the back, it was in the shoulder. Dorfnil got hit. He yelled. Lurio landed, happy to have touched the commander. But he wasn't eliminated, and Lurio was weak. Weak enough to be fainted in one hit. But he set himself in a combat position. He was ready to fight. Dorfnil stared at the Lucario, rather angry.

"Well, you did it but now you will die because of your stupity! I'll taste you when you will be roasted!"

The fire type ignited himself and was about to rush on Lurio. But suddenly he got hit by a waterfall. The Arcanine, surprised rolled before being able to recover. Lurio looked at his left. Gre was standing, a hand on his injury on his chest, in a combat position.

"That's for attacking me from behind and hurting Lurio." The Greninja said.

He then looked at Lurio who was looking at him with a wide smile.

"Gre!" Lurio shouted

"Still able to fight?" Gre asked.

"Of course!" Lurio answered.

"How cute..."

They turned to Dorfnil, who was standing. He was now serious, and injured.

"Seems like you're still able to fight? I underestimated you again... Be happy. I won't anymore." He said in a threatening tone.

Gre created a water shuriken and Lurio charged an aura sphere. The commander's leg seemed to hurt.

"He can't do extreme speed anymore... I think." Lurio told to Gre.

"He can but it would be painful." Gre replied.

"So let's take advantage of it."

Lurio threw the aura sphere and Gre ran towards their target. Dorfnil ran fast and dodged it. Gre threw his shuriken as well. This time the Arcanine did an extreme speed to dodge the projectile. His face was clearly showing that his leg was hurting him. Fire was going out of his mouth and Lurio, who was in his line of fire, moved. The commander did his flamethrower. The flames were pursuiting Lurio who was running on the walls as fast as he could. Gre threw another shuriken towards Dorfnil to stop him. But Dorfnil reacted fast enough to jump backwards to dodge the shuriken and still continued the flamethrower. The flames finally touched Lurio on his leg and arm. He screamed in pain and rolled all along the wall and hit another one. The fire type ended his flamethrower and ignited himself to do a flare blitz into Lurio. The Lucario tried to get up and run but his leg was painful, adding the pain of the entire body. He needed help:

"Gre!" He shouted.

Gre appeared right behind Dorfnil and leapt towards him. The hands holding strongly a water shuriken, he was about to strike it on the commander's head. The Arcanine turned around and hit Gre with his head, sending him to the other side of the room. Dorfnil was now luminous again, about to do a wild charge into Gre, still on the ground due to his current injuries. That would kill him. Lurio immediately reacted by doing an aura sphere towards the Arcanine. But he straightaway jumped aside and dodged the sphere, letting it going for Gre. Lurio immediately yelled:

"NO!"

The Greninja saw the aura sphere and threw a quickly made water shuriken at it, making it explode. The explosion created some smoke, filling a major part of the room. Lurio used the aura vision to see through it. But Dorfnil immediately came to him, the jaw in fire. Whe he was about to bite the Lucario's neck, Lurio used his injured arm to protect himself. The Arcanine bit it profondly, making Lurio scream in pain. That was probably the most intense pain he felt in his life. Dorfnil was about to do a flamethrower in his arm, aiming the head. Lurio didn't want to force his arm to move, but he had to for preventing the fire type from doing the flamethrower towards his head. When the commander was just about to spit flames, the Lucario moved his arm to his right in a huge pain. The Arcanine missed and burned the wall instead. But the arm... Lurio yelled very loudly, the pain became unbearable. Gre immedately answered with a waterfall into the Arcanine who released the arm when he got hit. Lurio looked at his arm. He didn't know if it was really an arm. It was burned, not bleeding because of the burning. The pain was something he couldn't find the words to describe it. Dorfnil was getting weak, his leg seemed to become a real handicap for him. Despite the injuries, he was still able fight with ferocity. The commander covered himself of electricity again and prepared to do a wild charge into Gre, who created a water shuriken. Then he charged, at a surprising speed. Gre jumped, dodging the attack. But the Arcanine immediately turned around and leapt on the Greninja. At this precise moment, the water type threw his shuriken at the fire type. But the Arcanine managed to do a barrel roll to dodge it. Gre gasped by seeing the perfect time reaction of Dorfnil, he tried to dodge the wild charge. But his arm got hit, making him yell. He rolled on the ground. The Arcanine walked to his direction.

"Any last words?" Dorfnil said, seeming tired.

"You're forgetting someone." Gre answered with difficulty.

"He can't even get up. While I tasted his arm, he tasted hell. Nobody can get back on their..."

Lurio leapt on the Arcanine, preparing his foot for a powerful high jump kick, screaming because of the effort. Dorfnil turned around and was surprised to see Lurio still able to fight. His eyes widened by the fear and he tried to dodge, but it was too late. The Lucario stroke violently the foot on the jaw, knocking down the Arcanine. He was now laying on the ground, the mouth bleeding. The commander was fainted. Lurio breathed loudly.

"Now you know the taste of my kick..." He said, exhausted.

He squatted down because of his injuries. Gre, seeing the severely injured arm, got shocked:

"Lurio! Your... your arm! We... we have to find a medic now! Quick!"

"That's not nec..."

"No please. It's a miracle your arm isn't dead yet! So let's find a medic, I'll call Charles to bring you to a chansey or whatever, a safe place where you can heal!"

At this moment, the Charizard appeared in front of the window and broke through it. He immediately saw Lurio's injuries, his reaction was imminent:

"Oh dear Arceus... what..."

"Charles! Please carry him to a medic, he really needs to..."

Right before Gre could finish, Dorfnil woke up, and roared in rage. The mouth bleeding, he was more intimidating than before.

"I won't be defeated like this!"

Charles took a step forward, determined to protect to two injured.

"As a commander of the Hell Army, I, Dorfnil, will..."

Suddenly something came across the ceiling and landed right on the Arcanine. He was on the ground but still awake. The thing afraid Lurio and Gre, and Charles growled. It was a Mega-Lucario.

"Oh, what a coincidence that we meet again. Especially you."

She was the female Lucario that Gre, Gaby and Charles met weeks ago. She looked upset to see Charles again, but then she focused on Dorfnil, who seemed to be scared.

"I don't have time to have fun with all of you, so I'll just do what I have to."

She charged an aura sphere, for the commander. Charles immediately ran to stop her.

"NOOO!" The Arcanine yelled.

And she crushed the aura sphere on his face. The explosion stopped the Charizard. When the smoke disappeared, the Mega-Lucario vanished. Dorfnil's face was burned by the aura and some skin were gonen exposing the within. He got killed. Lurio wasn't able to watch the corpse.

"Damnit!" Charles shouted, angry for letting her go and kill the commander.

Then Charles looked through the hole in the ceiling, silently. Suddenly he took Lurio and took off.

The Chanseys were working really hard to heal the several injuries, especially the arm. It took at least two hours before his arm was again usable without causing pain to Lurio despite the healing moves they used. They were still at Firstone. The Steel federation arrived thanks to Charles and began to interrogate many civilians and members of the Hell Army. The sun was rising, hours passed. Lurio was sitting, watching the scene and wondering. Mack disappeared. At least he was alive, but where did he go? He'll maybe never know the answer. Gre joined him, with bandages on the chest and his arm.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Way better. What about you?" Lurio answered.

"Same. Do know where Mack did go?"

"No idea. Vanished, literally. By the way where are..."

"Charles and Gaby are helping the Federation. Gaby received some shots and hits, but he's actually doing fine."

They both knew that their journey wasn't finished yet. They would be interrogated and have to go somewhere else, tracking the Mega-Lucarios. But since a new danger appeared, they would have to face it later.

"Do you know where we are going?" Lurio asked.

"Towards the South-West of Seraïon. We've been told that strange things occurred in the Gara desert. But Gaby told we will rest for one entire day. So we'll heal."

"Okay, then..."

A Magnezone came to them, escorted by two Galleons.

"Hello, sorry for bothering you but we'd like you to answer some of our questions."

"Okay officers." Lurio answered.

"First, do you know where the Heatran is kept?"

Lurio was surprised by this question. And that was true. Where is the Heatran they met? Lurio and Gre didn't know at all. They completely forgot it.

"We don't know. Sorry. But did someone told you about that Heatran?" Lurio answered.

"Yes, your friend the Garchomp told us that a Heatran tried to kill him from distance. But he disappeared after you defeated the Arcanine."

"Oh right."

"Now can you tell us what abilities was using the Lucario you met?"

Another surprising question, why would they need to know that? Gre answered this time.

"Well uhh... she knows how to use an aura sphere, nasty plot, uhh flash cannon... we don't know more."

"Alright, thanks for your cooperation."

When they were going away, Lurio asked:

"Do you know why they asked these questions?"

"I don't know. Maybe to see if she's the same Lucario that destroyed the Peak village, but that would surprise me. There was no survivor."

That was true. These questions were stranges but he was getting sleepy. He closed his eyes, and slept. Nothing particular happened in his sleep. And that was fine. He just wanted to rest.

**End of chapter 5**

* * *

From now on, I won't give any expected date or schedule or something. I can't promise something, so all I can is that you have to be patient.


	6. Chapter 6: Research of signs of life

Hello. Yeah it took pretty much time to post it. Many unexpected things happened. So I decided to remake the chapter 2 at the same time, so you can check it if you want. Anyway that chapter allowed me to write one that is more exciting for me to write.

Enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon**

* * *

**Chapter 6: Research of signs of life**

It was hot, the glowing sun was illuminating the burning sand, no clouds were visible in the bright blue sky. There was nothing in the surroundings. Just sand. Lurio began to get thirsty. So he opened his bottle of glass and drunk some water. Despite his thirst, he wanted to drink as less water as possible so he'll always have some water for later. He looked back and noticed Gre. He was in the worst state. The water type was trying to hide his thirst, but in vain. It was difficult for him to just walk even if he was the one who drunk water the most , he was really not used to be in a hot place. Gaby didn't seem to be thirsty, he told the others that this type of heat didn't really affect him because he was a ground type and he was used to not drink much water. Charles was in his environment. Despite the fact that he was carrying many bags, he was clearly fine. The group was helped by a Heatmor and a Rhyhorn who were their guides during their travel in the desert. They were used to travel the desert so water wasn't a big problem for them, adding their type advantages. The rhyhorn was carrying the major part of provisions while the Heatmor led the way. The travel lasted one day until today. The Arid village wasn't too far compared to other villages. After a few hours of walking, the Heatmor told the others with his grave voice:

"Good news, Arid village is near."

And he was right, when Lurio joined his position, he saw many rock peaks far away from here and some buildings were visible among these. They were almost at destination.

"Finally..." Gre sighed of relief.

After a while, they finally arrived to the village. Like the desert, it was very calm, oddly. There were many houses with a particular architecture specific to the desert. Yet, there was just four inhabitants. It was insufficient. A Sableye, wearing a red tissue covering his head, welcomed them:

"Welcome strangers! You're in Arid village. Sorry if there isn't many persons there, we... have a kind of a problem."

"We know, that's why we're here." Charles answered.

"Oh, that's perfect then. You wanna rest and have some water? We have more than usual so..."

"Yes, we'd like to. Thanks."

"Head to the water tank over there, take as much as you want."

Gre was the first to take some water. Lurio followed. When he filled his bottle, he sat next to a wall to rest and took a swallow. It's been four days they left Firstone, letting the Steel Federation handling the remaining. Lurio, like Gre, recovered from their injuries. Lurio had to be careful with his arm though, if he forced too much, the wounds would reopen. But he was still able to fight. Fortunately they found the Heatmor and the Rhyhorn as guides at the desert frontier, they were really helpful during the travel. After thinking about what happened before, he listened to what the Sableye and the other inhabitants were telling to his mates.

"We were actually fifteen here weeks ago. Then people began to disappear." the Sableye said.

"Eleven of us went down into these mines. They didn't comeback." a Flygon added while pointing at a mine entrance among others.

"Eleven? Just like that" Gaby asked.

"Not exactly."

A Metagross came accompanied with an Excadrill. He seemed to be the boss of the miner's village.

"At the start there were six miners who digged in that site. Then after a whole day without any news from them, I sent five guys to go see what happened to them. It was four days ago. Still nothing. I'm worried for them."

"Don't worry, we'll find them and bring them back." Charles reassured.

"That's not the only problem." the excadrill added." The team reported me a long time ago that these mines are... there are wild Pokémons down here."

Lurio was surprised to hear that like everyone else. Wild Pokémons were really rare. Those Pokémons decided to keep their old manners, not seeing the interest of the civilisation. Those miners weren't lucky at all, wild Pokémons can be really aggressive and unpredictable. All they could do was to hope that their mates didn't meet any.

"Okay, that will be a problem. I'll stay here to watch the village in case something would happen. Lurio, Gre, you will accompany Gaby into the mines." Charles said.

They both nodded. They didn't need to ask why he should stay here. In the mines he would be an easy target for the rock and ground type attacks. And with their types advantages, the mines shouldn't be too dangerous. Gaby did a sign to the two, so they joined him, near of the entrance. Charles gave them provisions and the Sableye gave a map of the known places.

"I warn you, they're probably in a deeper place than expected so this map won't help you anymore when you are in an unexplored zone." the sableye warned.

Gaby took a moment looking at the map and finally said:

"Alright, let's go."

As they were getting down, the three waved at the others who were waving at them too, seeing them disappearing in the darkness of the mine.

Gaby brought a torch in case it would get darker, illuminating a bit more the corridor. Some sand was getting out from the tunnel's ceiling which was maintained with many wooden beams, making it not collapse. Some torches were placed on the left wall. They simply followed the tunnel heading down because the map showed that it wasn't complete or didn't lead to a hall. The tunnel was really long and Lurio didn't know how deep they were. He looked back and saw that the exit was now just a tiny spark. He was a bit impressed by how much the miners digged.

"Lurio look out." Gre suddenly said.

Lurio immediately looked to his front again and straightaway raised his hands to not bump into a black wall. The tunnel took a turn. Gaby smiled while seeing this.

"It's some corundum. It's really solid. We don't know how to break this type of rock yet."

"I didn't know you were interested in rocks." Lurio replied.

"I was obliged to learn all types of rocks, because I'm a ground type."

"Oh."

They simply continued their walk. Lurio was looking at all the different rocks composing the walls and the ceiling. He didn't how long they were walking, probably an hour. Even more. He noticed that Gre was really calm, looking at the map sometimes.

"Gre is always calm actually..." he thought.

Then he decided to talk to the Greninja, curious about what he did after he left the Peak village.

"Gre?"

"Uh... yes Lurio?" Gre answered, surprised by the call.

"What did you do just after you left the Peak village?"

"Why are you askung now"

"Just curious. You never told me what you were doing."

"Oh yes, sorry about that." He paused and then he started. "To be honest I didn't do much things in one month. I went to Shatmeen, hoping to get a contract quickly. But I was surprised to see that many other bounty hunters were there. Like I knew there would be many, but not that much. Every contracts were almost taken. Fortunately I did find one. It was from a Turtonator, I had to protect him for three weeks because he had to go somewhere crime level is higher. But it wasn't even that high. So I did spend three weeks accompanying the Turtonator not doing much things, even if he was a nice person. He gave me actually more than the expected prize because he said "I was really nice". I didn't know how to thank him. Anyway I immediately returned to Shatmeen and I did find a contract consisting to find a fugitive. It wasn't easy, he was well hidden. It took me almost one week to find him, but he didn't try to fight when I found him. I went back to Shatmeen again and rested during one day. Then I found a contract where I had to take down a group of Crobats who stole the house of a Muk. I was disappointed by their combat skills, they were fast, but all they did was to charge me with a brave bird. I ended quite predicting their moves and took them down. And then Peak village got attacked..."

Lurio stayed silent by hearing the last words, thinking about what happened this day. Then he finally said:

"You're disappointed?"

"Oh not that much." Gre answered.

Then they both noticed that Gaby has stopped. The tunnel stopped, leading to a cave, that was marked on the map but it wasn't precised that the tunnel led to an actual cave. Gaby continued his way and followed the illuminated way. Lurio and Gre followed. Now the ceiling didn't need to be maintained with beams and the walls were now more muddled than before. The problem was that they were not safe anymore. Wild Pokémons could attack anytime soon.

"Open your eyes and listen carefully. Someone can be watching us right now." Gaby said.

Lurio obeyed and watched carefully his surroundings. After a while, they caught sight of an exit leading to a hall. Suddenly they heard footsteps coming from it. There was no place where to hide.

"Ready yourselves." Gaby said.

Other footsteps were now coming from behind them, Lurio looked and saw two Rhydons coming, they seemed to be hostile. Two others were coming from the other side. They were surrounded.

"They probably heard us coming." Gre suggested.

"Let's show them how we do a battle. Gaby replied, rather confident."

A Rhydon roared and smashed the ground with his fists, making the ground shaking. Then rocks were falling from the ceiling towards the three. Gaby's claw covered itself with energy and he stroke some rocks. Gre did the same with a water shuriken and Lurio punched the rocks targetting him. The other Rhydons charged, each one taking one prey. The Lucario's one had his punch covered with a brilliant red rather threatening and he leapt on the steel type, ready to deal a powerful hammer arm. Because of the narrow place, Lurio had no option except to jump backwards and risk to bother Gaby. But he did it, trying to control himself. He landed right next to the Garchomp's tail which bumped it. Gaby quickly glanced at Lurio but said nothing. The Rhydon smashed the ground with much force, making the gound shaking. Lurio gathered his hands and formed a blue bright energy and shot the aura sphere. The rock type, who was still recovering, got hit and almost stumbled backwards and kneeled, the hands on the ground, still conscious. Upon seeing this, Lurio was confused, that aura sphere was supposed to knock it down. How is he still standing up? The ground type, furious, charged at a surprising speed with his horn spining. Lurio, seeing this, yelled at Gaby:

"Gaby, move!"

The dragon type, seeing the charging Rhydon, stepped aside with Lurio, letting the Rhydon charging his mates. Too fast to react in time, the Rhydon didn't stop and hit another one, making him yell. When he finally stopped, the other Rhydon had his chest shell broken, with blood getting out of it, but not too many. He immediately punched his mate with such force in the head that he almost fell unconscious. The bleeding Rhydon was still standing up, a hand on his injury. His mate who was next to him suddenly stomped the ground, making it shaking really hard. Gaby looked down and his eyes widened and straightaway shouted:

"Run! It'll collapse!"

But it was too late. The ground shattered and the group colllapsed. Lurio, surprised looked down and saw that the bottom was very deep. He wouldn't survive such a fall. He looked around to see any possible grisp. Gaby disappeared but Gre was still falling with him. They were approaching the bottom very quickly. Lurio, who was to a wall, decided to use his steel spike as an ice axe. He yelled at Gre:

"Grab my hand!"

Gre used a falling rock as a shelf to jump towards Lurio and grabbed his hand. Lurio imediately planted the spike on a wall. The spike scratched the wall, Lurio was scared if it wouldn't be enough for a moment. Then they stopped falling. The Lucario sighed of relief and looked down to check if Gre was alright. He saw Gre but he more focused on how still deep the bottom was. Lurio didn't know what to do.

"You have any idea on how we can land safely somewhere?" He asked.

"Wait I'll check the map. I just have to be really careful..." the Greninja replied.

The water type used his free arm to take the map on his pelvis. Lurio heard the uneasiness in his voice. They fell really deep. It's possible that they're somewhere the miners didn't mark on a map yet. Gre took a moment to observe the map. Then he finally said:

"I'm scared the place where we are isn't marked..."

Lurio began to be scared. But the water type continued:

"...but I think there might be a tunnel near of our position."

"Where?"

"Upper. Probably."

Gre grabbed a grisp with his arm and took other ones with his feet. Then he released Lurio's arm and grabbed another one. Lurio took grisps too with his free feet and arm. He removed his spike from the wall and searched another grisp. But the only possible one was out of his reach. So he jumped and succeeded to grab it. Both Pokémons climbed for a while. Lurio sometimes covered his fist with ice and punched the wall to see if there would be tuneel behind. After doing it five times he finally found one. He let a little « Yes! ». The Lucario continued to punch the wall so he would be able to create an entrance. when the hole was big enough to allow him to enter, he put his paws one after one on the ground carefully. When he was in, he looked around and noticed a Golem staring at him at the top of a slope. The rock tye seemed to know that he was spotted but he didn't care. He was observing the Lucario to determine if he was hostile. Suddenly he rolled himself into a ball and charged into the combat type. Lurio, surprised, tried to stop the Golem with his hands but he was pushed and he bumped into a wall. The Golem tried to crush him against the wall but the combat type was resisting by keeping pushing the rock type. Suddenly his arm hurt. It was the injured one. He moaned loudly. He had to repulse his opponent. If he kept forcing too hard on his arm, the injury would reopen. And he felt his muscles beggining to burn. So he pushed aside with all strength and did a sidestep to let the Golem roll into the wall. His opponent stunned, the Lucario covered his fist with ice and punched right into the shell. The rock type was sent away while yelling, rolled on th ground and stopped, knocked out in one hit. Lurio put his hand on his injured arm because of the pain. Gre appeared and immediately asked:

"Everything's alright?"

"Yeah, I just forced my arms too much." Lurio answered.

"Tell me it isn't reopened."

"Don't worry it isn't."

"Well, if you say so..." Gre glanced at the uncouscious Golem. "Let's go back up. Just be careful about it."

"I will."

And they walked towards the slope. Lurio noticed that the environment changed. The rocks were now darker and illuminated by luminous blue crystals. A few common gems were visible everywhere. The blue crysals helped the two to see through the dark. They didn't meet any wild Pokémons during the travel. Except that Golem, no one was around. There was probably a reason to why there was almost nobody around here. Something was maybe scaring them. Maybe this place was the territory of other Pokémons. That idea worried the Lucario. Suddenly they heard a noise coming from upwards. They accelerated hoping to see Gaby again. But maybe it was a battle between two Pokémons to determine to which one the territory was owned. All of a sudden, the ceiling collapsed and a Gabite fell and crashed on the ground. Gaby followed and landed on him. On his fainted opponent, he roared, sign of his victory. He turned around and saw his two mates, staring at him.

"Oh, finally I've found you." He said, happily.

"You have a wild side you know?" Lurio commentated, looking at the Gabite.

"All Garchomps do."

"Anyway where were you?"

"Up there. I managed to not fall. I knocked out the Rhydons and after that I went on your research. I did meet some resistance but that wasn't big. Whatever did you find someone?"

"Not yet. We're getting really deep though." Gre answered.

"Damn. If we still don't find, that will mean we would have to deal with big threats."

"Like what?"

"A nest, a group of antic Pokémons..."

"Well, let's hope we don't have to go that deep." Gre added.

As they were going down., the blue crystals began to be more common. When the Lucario approached one he felt his hand being attracted. The steel type immediately resisted and got away from it. His spike on his hand was the cause of it, so those crystals were magnetic. While looking at the stones, he noticed that the Garchomp looked wary:

"Why are you..."

"Wary?" Gaby completed. "I remembered that these crystals are magnetic thanks to you. These are some magnitz. A crystal that is usually in Galvantula's territories."

Gre understood: "You mean that there is a nest nearby?"

"Yep, and that's really bad news for each of us. A nest can contain hundreds of them."

"How many can it have if it's a small one?" Lurio asked.

"Never less than one hundred."

"Oh..."

"If we enter in a big hall, be on your guard and be quiet."

The Lucario and the Greninja nodded. The lack of Pokémons here was now explainable by the presence of a nest. And the amount of Galvantulas was unknown. After walking for a moment they noticed a web. So the fear of Gaby was true: a nest was nearby and his inhabitants too. Lurio also noticed the end of the tunnel, which led to... a hall. He straightaway pointed at it to the others. Nobody said something, aware that discretion was a must. When they reached the end of the tunnel, the group saw a pretty big hall. Many blue crystals and webs, more than usual, were here. Gaby whispered to the Lucario:

"Enter and use your aura vision to see how many galvantulas we have to deal with."

The aura Pokémon entered and hid behind a rock. He used his aura vision and observed the place. What he saw immediately made him gasp. He never saw such an amount of life signatures. They were actually everywhere. On the walls, on the high ceiling and on the ground. He wasn't able to determine how many they were, but easily more than three hundreds. Fortunately for him and his friends, they were all asleep. Gaby and Gre joined his position.

"So? How many?" Gaby asked quickly.

"Hundreds of them. Everywhere. But they're asleep."

"Alright..." Gaby sighed, not reassured at all. "They aren't all asleep, there are always some walking around to watch the nest. Besides this one seems to be a medium one, not the worst case. But it's still very dangerous. Keep using your aura vision to spot any awake ones. So we'll hide from them."

"Okay."

Lurio was a bit stressed. Their lives were now depending on him and his eyes. He had to not miss any awaken Galvantulas. As they were approaching, the insect types were now more visble at the eye. Everone was impressed by the number of Galvantulas, this was were walking silently and always hid themselved behing rocks. Suddenly Lurio noticed one heading to them. He gasped and turend to his friends to alert them, quietly:

"One coming this way!"

"Hide!" Gaby said.

Gre was the first to do so, Lurio went behind a rock and crouched. Gaby laid down himself behind many stalagmites. The Galvantula passed really closely. It stopped next to Lurio. The Lucario quietly moved to the opposite side of the rock. The insect type looked around him. If Lurio stayed here, the Galvantula would have spotted him. The Galvantula continued his way. Gaby got up and did sign to the others to continue. Lurio noticed an entrance at the other side of the hall.

"Look over there." He whispered to the others.

Gre and Gaby noticed the entrance. That was maybe their way out but two Galvantulas were near of it like they were guarding it. Was it where the queen was? Gaby just whispered:

"That can't be the place where the queen lives, she always lives in the center of the biggest gathering of insects. So why are there those guys?"

"Maybe the miners." Gre said uncousciously.

The eyes of everyone widened just after that sentence. They had to hurry before it was too late! They were asked to bring them back nad their goal was probably near. Except those two guards there were nobody around awaken. Gaby told to Gre:

"I'll hide behind those stalagmites and attract this one. Lurio will hold the mouth shut so he won't shout." He pointed the Galvantula who was at the left. "You take care of the other one."

Gre nodded and straightaway ran quietly behind a stalagmite. Lurio was watching the scene. Gaby, at his position, just stomped at the ground loudly enough to make the Galvantulas hear it. Both walked towards the origin of the sound. When one just alomst saw Gaby, the Garchomp just bit him in the Cephalothorax with a fire crunch. Just before the insect type could yell, Lurio jumped out and shut the mouth. The other one, just before he could alarm the nest, got hit behind him in the abdomen by a gunk shot. They were both knocked out, silently, sort of. The attacks could have been loud enough to alert someone. Lurio used his aura vision to see if a Galvantula was heading to their way. He saw some moving, but none was heading to them or staring at them. He did sign to the others that nobody was alerted. They headed to the entrance. All of a sudden a loudly yell came. They stunned and looked everywhere. What was it? Did a Galvantua see them? But where? Lurio then looked up there and saw a Galvantula yelling. He was awaken by the sound and was alone. Gaby just said:

"...shit."

Hundreds of other yells of anger abruptly came, making the noise unbearable. Gaby shouted:

"Run!"

As they were running, the enormous yellow mass was now moving, heading to the intruders position, and it was fast. They entered in the tunnel in time and Gaby was the last to enter. Suddenly many bright projectiles headed to them. The ground type turned around and yelled:

"Come at me!"

He received all the shots and nothing came after thanks to his ground type immunties. Another series of yells came and the garchomp stomped the ground really hard. The ground shook and the ground where the galvantulas were standing on destroyed itself, knocking out tens of them. Then he planted with a lot of strengh his claw and several stone edges appeared, blocking the entrance. They were safe for now.

"Let's go before it'll give way." Gaby said hurriedly.

"Guys... look."

The Garchomp and Lurio joined him, scared to see what Gre just discovered. Then they saw a pile of cocoons made of web at the bottom. Five weren't in the pile. They looked to be recently made compared to the others. They were the rescue team which was sent days ago. Lurio used his aura vision to see if they were alive. He did not see any signs of life. Gaby, unaware of that, immediately used his claws to rip the cocoon. He only discovered an empoleon, dead. The body received many electrik attacks and many teeth marks were visible. Upon seeing the corpse, the garchomp grunted.

"Too late..."

"It's the rescue team right? » Gre asked.

"It is, the Metagross told me that the leader of the team was an empoleon. Lurio can you see what are in those cocoons, even if they're dead?"

"I can't because their bodies are empty of aura." the Lucario answered.

"Yeah, of course. Why did I ask? Help me to tear those cocoons so we'll see if there is all the eleven pokémons we're searching."

Discovering corpses wasn't something pleasant to Lurio, all of them were horrible to watch. Gaby did not like that neither but he seemed used to see corpses. What has he been through? That question was intrigued Lurio but he had to focus on the different corpses. All they knew about the miners is that they were composed of a Krookodile, a Gliscor, a Gabite, a Claydol, a Trapinch and a Sandslash. Fortunately, none of them was in the cocoons. They might be alive but where were they? And did they pass the nest?

"But where are they? Did they go deeper? That would be stupid and unprofessional." the Garchomp thought out loud.

Cracks suddenly came from the entrance. The Galvantulas were about to break in.

"Okay I have an idea but... this is a stupid one." Gaby said "I'll make several earthquakes in the nest to make the gound unstable. You guys try to reach as fast as possible the exit while I'll be distracting them. I'll join you when you'll be safe."

"Do you really think you'd be able to hold hundreds of enraged Galvantulas?" Gre asked, not sure if this idea was good.

"Don't worry for me. I won't lose against them. » the Garchomp winked at the Greninja. "Anyway I don't see any other solution to this and we're running out of time so..."

A rock got damaged, letting several Galvantulas visible, trying to reach their preys. Gaby's claws became shiny and shouted:

"Now!"

He dealt two violent slash into the rocks, including some insect types. The rocks were demolished and Galvantulas were touched. Before the hord could advance the Garchomp roared so loudly that the insect types stopped moving, intimidated by the powerful roar. Gaby just decided to let his savage side take control of himself. Now he seemed to be a wild and enraged Pokémon, fighting to death. He made several earthquakes, damaging the ground each time he did one. Gre and Lurio had to find the exit and fast. Lurio, in the run, saw an exit not too far from them, but it was blocked by a stalagmite.

"Behind us!" Gre abruptly shouted.

The Lucario looked behind and noticed a group of at least ten galvantulas charging at them. When they were about to attack with electric attacks, a big stalagmite appeared right under them. They flew away, either knocked out or injured. The ground began to crack more. Gre created a water shuriken and cut the stalagmite in two. Gaby, still struggling against the the insect types, began to get tired. With three Galvantulas on his back. He noticed where his mates were and sprinted incredibly fast towards them, even with the galvantulas on his back. Then all of a sudden the ground collapsed, bringing with it a huge amount of galvantulas taken by surprise. Despite the Galvantulas on his back, biting him, the Garchomp jumped before he fell with the Galvantulas. He planted his claws on the stable ground which Gre and Lurio were standing on. He pulled on his arms and managed to make it safe, painfully because of the several bites of the Galvantulas on his back. Two of the insect types got hit by a water shuriken and a flash canon, making them fall into the hole created by the earthquakes. Gaby, really annoyed by the last one, planted his claw on the Galvantula. The electric type screamed and the Garchomp jumped just threw him in the hole, joining the others. There were still many Galvantulas in the hall who were charging into them, looking forward to avenge their mates. The three ran into the exit and the Garchomp did a stone edge attack once again, blocking the way to their pursuers. Everybody was relieved.

"Did I really hold back hundreds of Galvantulas all by myself?" Gaby seemed surprised that he was still alive.

"You didn't trust your own plan?" Gre asked.

"Plan? Was that really a plan for you? Ugh..."

He kneeled. Upon seeing that the Garchomp was actually injured, he ran towards him to see what injuries he had. There were many teeth marks everywhere on his body which were only visible if we look closely. Some were deep enough to make the ground type bleeding. The fact that Gaby could handle so many attacks impressed the Lucario. Then he saw a deep cut on the left leg, probably caused by a fury cutter or a slash attack. In any case it was bleeding. How did Lurio and Gre didn't notice how injured their teammate was? Gaby was bleeding from almost everywhere. Gre took his bag and took some bandages out right away. He started to bandage the leg, after doing so he took care of all the other deep injuries.

"Lurio, can you take the energy root in my bag?" Gre asked, almost finished.

Lurio nodded and brought the medical root out of the bag. Gaby seemed disgusted just by the texture of it.

"Oh no not this sh..."

And the Lucario put it in his mouth. The Garchomp quickly chewed it and swallowed it. Quickly after, he took a water flask and took two big swallows, trying to forget the horrible taste in his mouth.

"You look like a child." Lurio joked, chuckling.

"Taste that... thing first. Then you'll be able to talk." Gaby said to defend himself.

"At least it worked."

Gaby smirked. Then he looked at the stalagmite he created and took a perplexed look.

"Guys, there was a stalagmite blocking the way here right?" He asked all of a sudden.

"Uhh yeah?" Gre answered, confused.

"So there's a chance that our miners took that way. That stalagmite, it can be due to a stone edge attack."

"Oh I see what you mean. They maybe used a stone edge attack to block the way like you did. Nice guess." Lurio said.

"Thanks. At least that seems to be the most logical explanation about that stalagmite. Anyway, let's continue."

"You are sure you will be good?"

"Obviously I will. You made me eat that energy root."

Gre put all the bandages in the bag and they all continued their travel into the caves. Lurio wondered why the minors did go deeper despite all the dangers they might meet. Is the minor job this dangerous? He told Gaby his thoughts:

"Why did the minors go deeper despite everything we saw?"

"That's something I can't really answer body. I think there's something else. There must be a reason why they went deeper."

"You think so?"

"Yeah, minors aren't supposed to take that much risk."

So those minors might be something else? So what are they searching for getting in such dangers? He wouldn't find out until they found them.

The luminous blue crystals becoming rare, Lurio had to wrap his hand with aura to create some light. He didn't know for how long they were in these caves. Maybe ten hours? Or less? He could not know. In any case, he began to become sleepy. He heard Gaby yawn, so he was not alone. It was surely late. They had to find a place where to rest, a place which looked safe.

"Whoa that's impressive." Gaby said abruptly.

The Lucario got out of his thoughts and his eyes widened upon seeing an enormous lake. It was colored by a deep blue and seemed to be an entire sea inside of a cave. They could not see where it ended.

"We should rest here." Gre suggested.

"Good idea." Lurio replied.

They sat next to the water and Gaby took sticks from his bag to make a campfire. He put one in his mouth and lightened it with a fire fang. They only ate fruits because that was the only thing they had. Lurio saw a banana. Bananas were not common do seeing one was surprising. He decided to eat it and it was rather sweet. He like it. Then he remembered that it had the same taste of the one he ate when he was barely born. His birth... it was something he almost forgot. Even with how the conditions were difficult. On the top of a snow covered mountain, alone, with just a coat and a little backpack full of fruits. Why was he born like that? Where were his parents? He never wondered about the answers. He didn't really know who he was. So many questions were now in his mind. Then he noticed that the only Lucarios he saw were the Mega-Lucarios. And what the male one told him: "You aren't one of us." Who were "us"? Does this sentence had a link to what he dreamt at Firstone? "We are the Lucarios. We are..." Unfortunately he didn't hear the remaining, but there had to have a link. He had to find it out.

"Lurio why are you staring at your banana?" Gaby said suddenly.

"Huh?" The Lucario replied, surprised.

He noticed that he didn't finish his banana. He looked awkward.

"Sorry I was lost in my thoughts."

"Does it occur often?"

"Sort of." Gre answered. "But what were you thinking?"

"Nothing, it's just that... this banana reminds me the one I ate when I was born."

Gaby looked confused, which was quite understandable.

However, Gre understood: "Oh I see. You were asking to yourself... why you were born like that?"

"Yeah."

"What?" Gaby didn't understand at all.

"I was born at the top of the Giant snow peak. All alone." Lurio replied.

Gaby was astonished. He tried to look normal each time he was surprised but this time he simply could not. His widened eyes showed it.

"But how did you..."

"I don't know. Maybe luck?"

"No. That can't be luck. You climbed down, as a newborn, the fucking Giant snow Peak! If you were born at such a place, it means you were meant to do it! Your parents or whoever knew you could do it, it can't be something else."

Lurio never thought about that possibility. So the climbing was a sort of trial? But to prove what? His strength? His bravery? As a newborn? He could not tell why, but he felt that the Mega-Lucarios could answer his questions.

"You really are someone particular Lurio." Gaby added.

"Maybe."

"And you don't know who you truly are, right?"

"Well uhh... yes."

"I think you're getting closer of knowing your identity. I can't tell why."

Lurio remained silent, lost in his thoughts. But he was getting asleep. So he finished the banana and he laid himself down and put his head on his bag. His eyes closed and fell asleep.

He was imprisoned. He tried to break the walls with an ice punch but he was not able to do it oddly. And he noticed his arms. They were shorter and his spikes disappeared. He was a Riolu again. Then he noticed the round shape of his prison, it seemed to be an egg. Suddenly the egg shook itself. He was carried. But by what? In any case It was running. Then the shaking stopped and he heard voices, he could not know if they were male or female:

"...leave...here?" It was barely audible.

"... it...but...I'm sure..."

He heard the persons going away. These voices were strangely familiar to him. His eyelids became heavy. He wasn't able to resist. Darkness wrapped himself.

He woke up. Gaby and Gre were asleep. The Lucario didn't know how long he was sleeping. Nobody could be able know in these caves. He got up and walked silently towards the water and sat down. He thought about what he just dreamed. These voices... he did hear them. But when? And he cannot remember if they were female or male. He was a Riolu during the dream, so does it mean he did hear them when he didn't even hatched? That was possible. Was these from his parents? He was only able to suggest things. And it was just a dream. It was maybe his imagination. No, it cannot be. These voices were really familiar. He stared at his reflection. He whispered:

"Who am I?"

Then he heard Gre waking up. Gre noticed straightaway Lurio who also noticed him. The Greninja walked towards the Lucario.

"Already awake?" the water type asked.

"Yeah." The combat type answered simply.

"You really seem... to be lost in your thoughts. What's going on?"

"Thinking about my birth and everything just made me ask to myself: who am I?"

"What do you mean?" Gre seemed to already know the answer.

"I was grown up by Dad but... I don't know who are my real parents. My family. Where I come from. All I know is that I was left at the top of a mountain. And I had to climb it down. Where is the sense in that?"

Gre stayed silent, staring at the water, as Lurio did. He completely understood his brother. What he was feeling at this moment.

"You see, I arrived here because of apparently a sinking. But I'm sure it isn't." The Greninja said.

"Yeah you did tell me."

"But actually I have no idea how I got here. I almost remember nothing. All I know is that I was with my father during a training. Then nothing. I cannot know what happened, if my father is still alive, if my family does, if my village does. And I don't know at all where is my village. I'm saying this to tell you that... I have a new family now."

Lurio could not say something.

"Durry helped me when I was hopeless and almost dying. You both accepted me. You wanted to be friend with me. Thanks to you, I found a new family I can trust. You gave me a reason to live. So I do owe something, to you and Durry. Even if he's..."

He wasn't able to finish his sentence.

"So tell yourself that... you still have a family and an identity."

Lurio still stayed silent. Gre was right. Even if he doesn't know who he is really and his true parents, he did have an identity and a family who to count on. Durry gave him a name, a home, an education... everything. For now, he had to cope with what he has for now. He did not have to absolutely know who he was supposed to be. He already knew who he was. A Lucario named Lurio.

"Thanks Gre." The Lucario smiled.

"No problem brother." The Greninja tapped on the back friendly.

They both heard all of a sudden a loud yawn. It was Gaby who woke up. He noticed the two Pokémons sitting next to the water. He didn't seem surprised.

"Well, I don't have to wait you to wake up at least." the Garchomp said.

Both smirked. They ate a few berries and walked along the lake. It was bigger than expected. After a few hours, they didn't find the end of it. That was surely impressive. But the most interesting thing is that they didn't meet any wild Pokémons until now. Usually a place with water attracts Pokémons. Something might be scaring them again. Or maybe the nest blocked the way to all the Pokémons. They weren't sure. Even Gaby, who was the expert in underground exploration, did not understand. Then they saw some light far away from their position. Their goal was probably near. As they were approaching, several contours appeared. A Krookodile, a Gliscor, a Gabite, a Claydol, a Trapinch and a Sandslash. They were the miners. They seemed to investigate the place, the Krookodile was holding a map and observed it closely. They were searching something. The Sandslash noticed the three who were approaching. He seemed annoyed and reassured at the same time. He told his mates about the arrival of the visitors, they had the same reaction than him. When they were joined, the Krookodile talked first:

"Hi, you're the rescue team? You took much times to come. We thought you forgot us."

"Actually we aren't." Gaby answered abruptly.

"What?" The dark type was surprised as the others.

"The original rescue team was killed. By the nest back there."

"Oh..."

"So I have a question: Why the hell did you continue to dig deeper despite the several lethal dangers that I and my teammates saw?!"

"Uhh... it's a bit complicated..."

"What? Greediness? That isn't enough to prove your stupid move."

"No. Actually we aren't really minors."

"What?"

"We're here to find the Ancient Dead city."

The Sandslash decided to talk: "A friend of ours tried to investigate that place before but the access to the mines was denied to him. So he asked us to try to find it for him. So we made the Metagross believe we were volonteers to work here."

"You know you caused the death of five people just to find a place that could not even exist? I hope you're proud of yourselves."

The "minors" stayed silent. They didn't have any excuses for this. They felt guilty for the lost lives. Gaby sighed:

"...idiots..."

And he turned to Lurio and Gre who were watching:

"Let's go back up."

"But are we going to do the same strategy to get through the nest?" Gre asked.

"We'll see."

Suddenly they heard a loud roar. Everyone was stunned upon hearing this. The Sandslash screamed:

"Aaah! What the heck was that?!"

"Do you really think we know?!" The Gabite replied, sacred too.

"It looks like an aerodactyl's scream but... it's different." The Krookodile said.

"You're right. I never heard this scream before." Gaby added.

More sounds were heard. This time it sounded like a collapse. And it came from... behind them. Everyone turned around and saw a flying creature charging right into them. Some "minors" screamed of fear upon seeing the possible lethal attack. Gaby immediately stomped his foot on the floor, creating stone blades right in front of the unknown creature. It stopped his charge and the creature shouted, angry. Gaby didn't wait to tell orders:

"Gre! Take those guys with you! I and Lurio will take care of this guy!"

"But you're injured we should..." Gre contested.

"I'll be fine, go!"

And the Greninja went out, still unsure if it was the good thing to do. All of a sudden the rocks broke and let appear the creature, now more visible. It really looked like an Aerodactyle, but it seemed bigger. The skin was a bit darker but especially many black rocks were spotted on his body, some served as dangerous horns on the head and others on the wings looked like sharp claws. Without waiting it swung his powerful tail towards the Garchomp really fast. Gaby wasn't able to react in time because of his injuries and he got projected right in the wall. Gaby seemed really weak, he didn't recover from his injuries.

"Gaby!" Lurio yelled.

He turned against the Aerodactyle . It charged into the Lucario, the mouth in fire. It was incredibly fast. He immediately, without thinking too long, jumped over it. The teeth almost reached his leg. Lurio grabbed one of the black rocks on the back. The creature aware of this, tried to get rid of the combat type by doing a looping above the water. Lurio almost released the rock but he resisted. The flying type continued his acrobatics, trying to make the Lucario fall. But the aura Pokémon approached the head and he grabbed with one hand a horn and another one with his other hand. The Aerodactyle screamed, annoyed by the Lucario's resistance. Lurio tried to control the beast by moving the head. It didn't want to get controlled against his will. It was uncontrollable. The Aerodactyle's will was strong enough to fight the Lucario's one. Without noticing it, they flought towards a wall. When Lurio noticed, it was too late. They crashed into it but they got through it, accessing to a new hall, it was circular and rather big. Like an arena. Both fighters landed violently on the ground, each one was at the opposite side of the other. But they got up immediately, ready to face each other. The flying type seemed more dizzy, but he quickly focused again. It roared loudly, meaning it was ready. Lurio grasped his fists and prepared himself to dodge. An ice punch would really hurt the beast, even knock it out with a bit of luck. The Aerodactyle leaped on Lurio with ferocity, attempting to deal a fire fang. It wasn't as fast as before so Lurio jumped high enough to dodge the attack and his fist wrapped itself witch ice. He was now about to smash the beast's back. All of a sudden he received a knock of its tail. He was projected not too strongly but bumped into the wall. The damages weren't too important but the knock took him by surprise. The Aerodactyle took off. The Lucario prepared an aura sphere, ready to throw it if the rock type charged. But the Aerodactyle immediately landed really violently on the ground and planted his claws into it. The ground trembled... it trembled too much. Lurio understood it was an earthquake attack. So he immediately threw the aura sphere and climbed the wall the quickest he could to avoid the earthquake right before the ground was destroyed. The rock type took off to dodge the sphere and then did an aerial ace, flying right into the combat type. Lurio released his grips to dodge the charge. But the Aerodactyle expected this and attacked with his tail instead upon stopping his aerial ace. Lurio got knocked again against the wall at the mercy of the beast who had his jaws in fire. Lurio immediately rolled aside to dodge the bite. The flying type went on with another bite. The steel type got almost taken by surprise and leaped backwards, his foot almost got caught by the burning jaws. The Aerodactyle grunted, surprised by the reactivity of the Lucario. Lurio was impressed too by the beast skills. Its speed, its reactivity, its ferocity and its intelligence made the Aerodactyle a very dangerous adversary. But how a wild Pokémon could unify all these qualities? Lurio didn't have time to think about it. The ground was now messed up. It was now harder to keep his balance. The flying type charged faster than before into the combat type for another aerial ace. Lurio jumped but it wasn't enough. The horns hit the Lucario's legs. He yelled at the impact and rolled on the ground while the aerodactyle landed. The aura Pokémon got up painfully because of the injured legs with one bleeding. The beast, seeing the injury, leaped on the Lucario ready to deal a fire fang. But Lurio, upon seeing this, sprinted and slid right below the surprised Aerodactyle. Upon seeing the combat type's move, it stopped and turned around to face his prey, but Lurio, despite the injured legs, leaped on the Aerodactyle's back and grabbed a black rock once again. The flying type straightaway took flight and attempted to crush the Lucario against a wall. The aura Pokémon understood the beast's intentions and grabbed its shoulder to pass to the other side. The Aerodactyle bumped against the wall and was about to bite the metal type with a fire fang, angry. But Lurio wrapped his fist the quickest he could and smashed the rock type's chest with all his strength. The Aerodactyle yelled very loudly in pain due to the super effective hit. It fell on the ground heavily and Lurio landed. He wasn't moving anymore.  
The Aerodactyle was fainted.  
He was a really strong adversary. Lurio grunted and kneeled because of the pain caused by the injured legs. Then he thought about something. That Aerodactyle was not exactly one. What if he was actually... a Mega Aerodactyle? That possible fact made his heart beat faster. He might have a link with the Mega Lucarios! He decided to join his teammates. Suddenly he heard something moving really fast. His eyes widened and he turned around really fast. The Aerodactyle slashed the Lucario's chest with his claws. He yelled and fell backwards. The hit left deep wounds on the chest. The Aerodactyle put a leg on the lucario, looking rather satisfied to see his prey finally at his mercy.

"Admirable. But you're weaker than me..."

The Aerodactyle just talked. Lurio was astonished. He wasn't wild at all. But the Aerodactyle was now about to bite his head with a fire fang. All of a sudden the rock type glanced at the exit and leapt backwards, dodging a water shuriken. Lurio got up with difficulty and saw Gre arriving.

"Lurio! Are you okay?!" He shouted upon seeing the injuries.

"I can still help." The Lucario said with a hand on his bleeding chest.

"Back up. I'll handle this guy."

The Aerodactyle roared, angry that someone interrupted him. He planted his claws into the ground. Several stone blades appeared on the field. Gre sprinted towards the rock type, a water shuriken in his hand, dodging all the stone blades. The Aerodactyle took off and charged the greninja for an aerial ace. The water type immediately climbed the stone blades to dodge the aerial ace and threw his shuriken at the Aerodactyle. The rock type dodged it by doing a barrel roll and he swooped towards Gre. Lurio threw an aura sphere into the rock type and hit the wing, making the Aerodactyle scream. The water type straightaway jumped to dodge the swoop and landed on the floor. The Aerodactyle crashed on the ground and the floor trembled. Lurio who was watching, knew what it was and Gre seemed to know too.

"Come! Quick!" He yelled.

The Greninja sprinted towards Lurio and wrapped him and did a waterfall attack, projecting themselves thanks to the created water. But the exit was too high. Gre threw Lurio with all his strength. Lurio reached the exit but he noticed Gre falling in the darkness. He was shocked by what Gre just did.

"Gre!" He yelled.

The Greninja was trying to reach the wall but something knocked him. It was the Aerodactyle, still alive, but he was unable to fly because his wings were injured. So he wanted to finish this battle by bringing Gre to death with him. In the infinite darkness.

**End of chapter 6**

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I hope you liked it.

I'll try to be faster next time but the next chapter is more exciting for me to write.

See you next time.


	7. Chapter 7: Among the dead

Hello.

So here it is, chapter 7, It may be shorter than expected but I liked writing it. By the way I updated every other chapters that are already out, some errors are removed so it would be more pleasant for your eyes to read. I hope.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

* * *

**Chapter 7: Among the dead**

He received a sudden hit on the head. The pain broke his concentration, he wasn't able to cling to the wall anymore. The Aerodactyle was still conscious and wanted to kill him. While falling, Gre turned towards his enemy. All of a sudden the Mega-Aerodactyle spread out his wings and slowed down drastically, rushing right into the greninja and opened his mouth. Gre immediately moved on the left as fast as he could. The flying type tried to bite him but missed and tried to scratch him, missing again. He turned against Gre and rushed again. The Greninja created a water shuriken and threw it towards the Aerodactyle. The flying type reacted immediately and did a barrel roll, dodging it. Gre threw several others, the Mega-Aerodactyle kept dodging all of them, getting closer to his prey. Gre knew if this continues, he's going to be killed. So he had to take a risk. He spread his legs and his arms to slow down. The Aerodactyle, upon seeing this, opened his mouth. He folded up his legs again and leant on his enemy's nose, avoiding to get bitten. He grabbed one of the rock horns of the beast and put his feet on his back. The Mega-Aerodactyle did a barrel roll, trying to get rid of the Greninja. Gre resisted and created another water shuriken and quickly planted it on the back of the beast. He screamed and approached the wall. He wanted to crush him against the wall. He released the horn and took flight. Suddenly the flying type turned against him and struck Gre on the leg with his claws so fast that Gre wasn't able to react. The water type screamed of pain, the injury was really deep. The Mega-Aerodactyle spread out his wings again and opened his mouth while roaring. Gre decided to rush into his enemy too. Pretty much water got out of his feet quickly, propulsating him right into the Mega-Aerodactyle. He managed to narrowly dodge the bite and hit the beast's chest with all his strenght. The Aerodactyle spit out some blood at the impact and was pushed into the wall. He scrapped the wall, damaging his skin. His scream was strident. Gre noticed the bottom of the hole, with water. He created a water shuriken and planted in the nearest wall. It scratched the wall for a little moment before stopping completely. The Aerodactyle, who seemed uncouscious, fell in the water, doing a big splash. The beast wasn't visible anymore. That watering place seemed deep. When Gre was about to release the shuriken, the Mega-Aerodactyl got out of the water, barely crowling on the land and passed out. Maybe he was too much injured or tired. Gre waited a moment to see if he was really uncouscious. Then he finally released the water shuriken and plunged into the water. When he got out of it. He felt a sudden pain in the leg and kneeled. His injured leg was bloody. He had to stop the bleeding, he already lost too much blood, but he had nothing on him. No bandages, nothing. He had to find help, immediately. He started to walk slowly towards a cavity. After a moment his head started to spin. Was he able to find help? No that's impossible, there are only wild pokemons here. Was he really going to die here? All alone?

"No, I... did a promise to Lurio, I told him I won't die. But..." He thought

He started to lose his balance. It was impossible. He was going to die here. He fell over. He barely crawled, his eyes were becoming heavy. He was feeling a hot liquid touching his legs. That was probably his blood. He wasn't able to keep his eyes open. Suddenly he started to believe to hear footsteps. He wasn't able to know if it an hallucination. Then his eyes closed.

"I'm sorry... Lurio..." he thought out loud.

He collapsed.

Gre began to hear rain. He heard what seemed to be some glassware being moved. It sounded real.

"Wait..." He thought.

He opened his eyes surprisingly easily. They weren't heavy anymore. He saw an actual artificial floor. He got up and saw what seemed to be a bedroom with several beds and tables which one had apparently potion bottles on it. And there was a Dusclops next to it. They turned to against him and noticed that Gre was awake.

"Oh You're awake." The Dusclops said, with a male voice.

"Where am I?" Gre asked, completely confused.

"Don't worry, it's safe here. I'm actually suprised you're awake after losing so much blood."

Gre looked around and noticed there was a big window, with the size of a wall. He stood up to see what was outisde.

"Go easy, the injury isn't healed yet. But if you really want to know where we are..."

Gre was in front of the window what he saw was surprisingly wonderful. There were many buildings with a sophisticated architecture he never saw before. The windows were pretty big rectangles. There was ignited lamps wich were protected against the rain. And the ground was completely different from other cities, everything was so ordered. There were several other Pokemons who were ghost types. He looked at the top which was completely dark, it's impossible to see if there was really a sky with clouds.

"...Welcome to the Dead city."

Gre thought he didn't hear well. He turned against the Dusclops:

"Excuse me but can you repeat?"

"The Dead city."

Gre looked across the window again."

"I didn't know it really exists, and it's really... a wonderful place."

"Isn't it? This place is completely unknown to most alive Pokemons."

This sentence scared Gre:

"So... only dead pokemons are supposed to know where this city is?" the Greninja asked.

"Yes. But you're the first alive Pokemon who came here." the dusclops answered.

Gre got reassured. He didn't die. So it was possible for him to rejoin Lurio and the others. But how would he do that?

"Is there a way to go back to the surface?" Gre asked to the Dusclops.

The Dusclops stayed silent for a moment, then he finally replied:

"Yes there is."

"What is it?"

"It's..." The ghost type seemed to hesitate to say it. "It's a portal which leads all the way back up to the lake up there."

"All right. Where is it?"

"It will be difficult for you to get there. Most people won't mind you. But some would say you aren't supposed to be here."

"I'm going to do this anyway."

"You're sure of it?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, follow me. If you see someone wearing an armband, don't let them see you. But we shouldn't see any around here."

"Okay." Gre agreed. But despite his desire to join his friends, he was curious about the city. "By the way what is this place supposed to be?"

"Oh. It's where all the dead go after death. It's where some of us rest. We can go outside but just for a little while. Just a few days."

The Dusclops opened a door that leaded to a corridor. There were several other doors leading to what were probably other bedrooms. The building clearly seemed to be a big inn. When they went down by the stairs, a trevenant was at the bar, cleaning a glass. Then he noticed the greninja, Gre wasn't able to know his facial expression.

"He feels better now?" the plant type asked.

"Yeah, I'm going to uh... show him the city." the Dusclops answered.

"...you know the risks right?"

"Yeah I'll be careful. Later."

The Trevenant saluated with his arm and they went out. They only just got outside when they got wet. It was raining much more than he thought. The water that fell on his blue and white parts of his skin and on his face made himself feel way better. He closed the eyes, enjoying this moment which was pretty rare these days. Rain definitely made water type pokemons heal faster and made them stronger. He really liked the drops of rain leaking all the way down on his skin. He felt becoming stronger and had the impression that he never lost blood. He stayed there for a moment. He opened his eyes again and noticed the Dusclops looking at him.

"You definitely feel better, am I right?" he said, amused.

"Haha, yes I really do." he answered.

They continued walking in the streets. The buildings were pretty high, he wondered how such buildings have been built in a cave. And how was it raining? Then he thought about the lake situated upper. The several dead Pokémons who were walking in the streets were not causing any trouble to them. They were staring at them, looking rather surprised to see an alive Pokémon in the city. Some were talking about him but he didn't care. He was warned that some may not like his presence in this place, but he didn't know where he was led to.

"Where are we going?" he asked to the Dusclops.

"To a friend's house. He knows more than me about how to get to the portal. He's a nice guy, I know him since I got here."

"Since when?"

"I don't know."

"...what?" the Greninja was completely confused by what he believed to hear.

"We don't have the notion of time here. Time goes faster in the Dead city. But I maybe died... a few years ago. But one hour here is something like one minute in the alive world."

"...how? Aren't we supposed to be in the same world?"

"That moment when you arrived at the bottom of the hole, you actually came across another dimension. Our dimension."

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know. Maybe it's the..."

All of a sudden they heard several bells ringing from far away. Many Pokémons now looked at the "sky". Gre didn't understand what was happening and did the same to see what they were looking at. The Dusclops pushed him to a dark alley.

"What are you...!?" he shouted.

The Dusclops interrupted the Greninja: "Quiet! Hide behind me."

Gre kept quiet and stayed behind the ghost type. It suddenly became darker. Gre was still able able to look above him. There was giant black smoke flying over the place. Some smoke got separated of it. As they got closer, Gre understood what they really were. They were Gastlys. An entire hord of Gastlys. They seemed to inspect the whole city. Gre supposed if they found him, this would be bad for him. One approached his position, the Dusclops hid him enough to allow him to not be seen. The Gastly went away and rejoined the others. The smoke finally went away.

"It's safe now. You can show yourself." the Dusclops said.

He did so. He noticed that the ghost types around them were staring at him. A Chandelure talked to the Dusclops:

"Are you really going to protect this guy?"

"I'm going to. He just wants to get out of here."

"You're going to get banned from this place if you both get spotted by the Hord and the Governor. Are you crazy?!" a Sableye said.

"I prefer leaving this place than staying here holding someone here against his will." The Dusclops replied.

"Still. The Palace is pretty far away from here. How are you going to get there without getting spotted by any guards patrolling the whole city? And you're lucky that there isn't any guard patrolling here for now."

"Maybe. But don't you remember? That kid from long ago?"

"Yes. But he got..."

"But this one is stronger by far. He can make it."

"How the hell can you tell Lary?" an unknown voice said.

It came from their right. It was from a Cofagrigus.

"Franck." Lary replied.

Franck approached Lary. They clearly knew each other.

"We don't even know that Greninja. Did you see him fight at least?" the Cofagrigus asked.

"I saw him survive despite the big amount of blood he lost. This shows he's rather a tough one right?"

The Cofagrigus stayed silent. He stared at the Greninja, thinking. Then he finally answered:

"Follow me. Quick."

Lary and Gre followed Franck, probably going to his home.

When they entered in what seemed to be the living room, The Cofagrigus told them wait while he went into a storage room, looking for something. Gre wanted to ask something to the Dusclops:

"Can I ask you something uhh... Lary?"

"Of course. And you can call me "Lary"." The ghost type replied.

"What is this place exactly?"

"It's a place where the people who regretted to die come. They can return outside but just for a few days. Then they have to wait a certain time before being able to return."

"Oh. But why are you here?"

The Dusclops took a moment to answer: "An old friend told me to take care of his child before he died. But I was dead before being able to find him. Every time I go outside I'm looking for him. But for now, I found nothing."

Gre thought it was sad to hear. Lary might be condemned to search an unfindable kid.

"Sorry for this question but... why are you in these caves?" the Dusclops asked suddenly.

"Oh uhh... I was in an expedition with my teammates, then a strange Aerodactyle surprised us. I was able to save my friend Lurio from him."

"Mmh. That's brave of you. You must be close."

Gre giggled: "Yeah... I consider him as my brother. We've grown up together, fought together. I wasn't able to let him fall with me."

"He must be imprudent."

He is. For a Lucario he really is."

"A Lucario?"

"Yes. Lurio is really special. He doesn't think so but he's actually pretty tough. He managed to climb down a mountain as a newborn."

The Dusclops turned his head to the Greninja: "...Really? What mountain?"

"The Giant snow peak."

Lary stayed silent for a rather long while. Then he replied: "That's... impressive."

"By the way what is this story about this kid they told about from earlier?"

"Oh uhh... It's a long story."

Lary took a sit. The way he sat made him appear old. But he clearly wasn't. Or at least he didn't die old.

"It was clearly a long time ago. I was sort of new at that time but I started knowing the people out there. I was walking around in the city with Franck, talking about this and that. Then I noticed a kid who was rather far in the street. At first I thought he was just a Litwick. Then I noticed she was actually a Roggenrola. I and Franck approached he to know what she was doing down here. She was completely scared and wanted help. We brought her to the inn we were earlier, hoping we could something to eat or drink. But the Roggenrola wasn't hungry at all, all she wanted was to go back home. So we simply put her in a bag we would get her to the palace so she would go into the portal. Franck called Daniel, a Dusknoir, to help us. Actually the people were aware of what we were doing but at that time they wanted to help too. So they kept quiet. But..."

"But everything went wrong."

The Cofagrigus reapeared again, holding a folded paper with one of his four black hands. Franck continued:

"The guards wanted to check our bags so we decided to get the Roggenrola out of the bag and put her in the mouth of Dumort and tell her how to go to the portal by herself and insisted about why she has to not get seen. We told the guards we forgot something but they came later to us and ordered us to come with them. They caught the two and brought us to see the Governor. He warned us about how dangerous alive Pokémon can be dangerous to this place and that this place must stay unknown to the people above. He gave a threatening warning to all the inhabitants that it if happens again, he'll ban all the people who helped us. The fate of the Roggenrola is completely unknown. Now you understand why I and the others were scared at the idea and why you should NOT be here."

He paused and gazed at the paper, he seemed hesitant.

"I'm probably selfish and a coward, but if ANYONE sees you, everyone here will get in danger. And no one wants to quit this place because of an ignorant."

"But why would I be dangerous?" the Greninja asked, astonished.

"I don't know. Ask this to the Governor himself."

"So you prefer letting someone stuck here forever?" the Dusclops asked.

The Cofagrigus took a mooment to reply: "...I just don't want to see dozens of people banned from their refuges because of my fault! Because I do care about the people of this place!"

"So we don't care about him?!" Lary pointed at Gre who was watching.

The Cofagrigus gritted his teeth, ignored the question and unfolded the paper, showing now a map of what seemed to be the city. It was huge and dense, how would they be able to locate themselves in this mess?

"So we're here." Franck pointed a finger on what seemed to be their position. Gre was a bit surprised of the speed of the Cofagrigus. "And that big building is the palace. At the North of our position. The shortest and safest way to get there is to pass thrpugh that crossroads and these alleys."

The "shortest and safest way" to get to the palace seemed rather long.

"You'll come with us?" Lary asked to the Cofagrigus.

"No. Not this time." Franck answered without any hesitation.

"That's alright." Lary answered, softly.

As Gre and Lary were about to quit the room, the Cofagrigus wished good luck. After the Dusclops thanked him they went out of the apartment.

"He's too scared to come. And he's ashamed of it." The ghost type thought out loud.

"What about the Dusknoir?" Gre asked.

"...Same. And I don't know where he is."

Was Lary the only one to have enough courage to help him and be against this... tyranny? In any case, Lary was admirable for this. Gre wondered who the Dusclops before. Certainly a good person. But something was intriguing him:

"He said you can be kicked from here. But where are you going then?"

"Nowhere." Lary answered in a dark tone. "In the Dead world. It's a place where you find nothing. Imagine the alive world but without any vegetation, no water, no sky. This is where you find the "Banished"."

"Who?"

"The Banished. They were thought to not deserve rest because of their acts."

As they were about to go out, the door opened and revealed a Mismagius. Upon seeing the Greninja she screamed:

"Holy shit!"

And she ran away. She was going to alert the guards. Gre sprinted at the door and observed carefully outside. The ghost type went into the alley to his left at the other side of the street. Nobody were nearby. So he ran into the alley and noticed the Mismagius getting far. But he would easily catch her. Then he sprinted at full speed, coming closer to the ghost type. Suddenly she turned around and threw a shadow ball at the dark type. Gre reacted just in time, went down and slided under the shadow projectile, barely dodging it. The rain made him slide easier. The Mismagius was close enough, so he leapt on her and catched the ghost type.

"GAH! Get off! Get off!" she kept shouting.

"Can you just calm down?! I won't hurt any of you!" Gre said while trying to control the Mismagius, which wasn't easy since she's a ghost.

"You're a danger for this place whatever are your intentions!"

She was getting more violent and noisier. Gre had to make her quiet, as soon as possible. Then he got an idea.

"Ghost types can't die right?" he asked.

"WHY ARE YOU ASKING THAT YOU FREAK?! OF COURSE WE DON... Wait..."

Gre received the answer he wanted. His hand was wrapped with dark energy and he knocked out the Mismagius. The screaming was instantly replaced for the rain. Lary joined him and noticed the unconscious Mismagius.

"Aren't you a bit hard?" he asked. But he seemed to know it was necessary

"She was getting too noisy. People would hear her."

The Dusclops stayed silent and opened the map, trying to protect it from the rain.

"Let's just continue this way. For the discretion you can go on the roofs. But if you see a black smoke, hide immediately."

Gre nodded and stepped backwards to gather speed. Then he sprinted towards a wall and jumped. Then he was just running on the wall until he reached the top. When he was on the roof he heard the Dusclops talking to him:

"Always nice to see a Greninja in action! Anyway follow me!"

And he jumped on the other building, following the ghost type, as a shadow.

He didn't know how long he was following the Dusclops from above. And even less how long in the alive world. Maybe an hour? As long as he was getting closer of the Palace, he realized how huge the structure was. Probably the biggest one he ever saw so far. The structure was separated in three buildings. Each one had a dome at the top. The main building was the biggest, its dome seemed to reach the roof of the giant cave. The ensemble was really impressive. But there were also more guards in the street, and the palace was still pretty far away. Gre observed Lary in the streets. He was walking calmly. Then the ghost type stopped and went to an alley, at the opposite side of the buildings where Gre was standing on. This was problematic since many pokémon were walking nearby. The Greninja decided to just see what the Dusclops was doing. Suddenly Lary reappeared with a Dusknoir behind him and joined the Greninja's side. When they were out of view, Gre jumped and landed next to the two ghost types. The Dusknoir jumped with surprise upon seeing the dark type but they stayed calm though.

"There he is." the Dusclops said collectedly.

The Dusknoir stared at Gre for a little while.

"Don't tell me we're going to do this again."

The Dusclops looked rather surprised of what the Dusknoir said. Gre guessed he was Daniel.

"You aren't going to help us then?" the Dusclops asked, scared of the answer.

"You two are alone here. I cannot..."

"You are the one who knows the Palace better than anyone else. Don't..."

"I said I cannot. Last time I don't know what I did to remain here. Do you even know how the Governor talked to me? He threatened me while staring at me with his blue eye and beat me up as a sentence because I was the captain of the guard at that time. Now I'm here, I'm made fun of who were supposed to be my soldiers. You can't know how it feels."

Lary stayed silent for a moment. Then he finally answered: "You're wrong. I do know how it does feel. I know this feeling very well."

The Dusclops paused. He was clenching his fists. Gre stared at the Dusknoir. He was indignant by the violence of that Governor. He clenched his fist as well, retaining his anger towards him. He knew that many Pokémons tortured their people to force them to accept an ideology, to improve their work or something else. He could name at least ten of them. But he never heard a testimony directly. And he couldn't stay there doing nothing. All of this was absurd.

"Why such a punishment?" Gre asked.

"To show the example obviously." Daniel asnwered. "The Governor knew that everyone wasn't scared since it's peaceful here, so they needed something to be scared of so they would obey. Since the incident, the security got improved. The Governor really doesn't want anyone alive here. Anyway I'm already happy to not have joined the Dead world."

"But do you deserve a constant humiliation?"

Daniel didn't answer.

"I guess it's a "no", so do you want to change things here and prove that this law is absurd?"

Gre was able to see that the Dusknoir was tempted to help him. He didn't have Lurio's ability to read people's thoughts and feelings, but Daniel let a little smile when the Greninja asked.

"Alright." Daniel finally accepted.

The Dusknoir "walked" out of the alley and signaled to the others to follow him. Gre nodded and went on the roofs once more. Then the water type realized that the ghost type signaled them to come in the military way, by raising his forearm waving it to his direction. Gre learned the military signals so he understood. Daniel was probably a soldier before. Lary was still sort of mysterious to the Greninja.

The Palace was more huge than he thought. How was this place built underground? He probably would never know. But the zone was crawling with Pokémons, and they were wearing armbands or something similar. The guards were watching the entrance. Gre was hidden whereas Dumort was in front of every guards. Lary didn't come because seeing the two would be suspicious. They were really making fun of him, seeing him as a traitor. The Gre paied attention to the entrance and was again impressed. The door was more than three times his size, splendid statues of Doublades were hooked to the wall. A statue of an Aegislash was hooked to the wall at the top of the door. Three giant banners were placed in the same way. There was what seemed to be the city's seal, which seemed to be a flame with a circle at its bottom. The Dusknoir was approaching the entrance. Obviously two Haunters who were stationned in front of the door. Gre was able to hear their conversation sonce evry guards kept quiet to listen to it.

"So traitor, why are you here?" a Haunter asked in a scornful tone.

"I need to go outside, I have some business to do out there. And I have no reasons to tell something to both of you."

A Haunter pointed at him: "Hey hey that's not the way how we talk to an officer... citizen."

The Dusknoir clenched his fists: "Let me pass, I have my rights."

"Ha! You still think you have rights you dumbass? You want to bring some alive freaks down here don't ya? Did you forget how the Governor kicked your ass so har..."

The guard didn't finish his sentence that Daniel punched him in the face with an ice punch really violently. The Haunter collided with the wall behind him and seemed stunned. The other Haunter looked angry:

"The hell are you doing?! Stop him!"

The Dusknoir was surrounded by seven guards, ready to "get him under control". A Golurk tried to attack him from behind with a shadow punch but Daniel dodged it by going backwards. A Gengar spit out a shadow ball towards the Dusknoir but it barely missed. The remaining Haunter threw another shadow ball at him. Daniel bent down to avoid it. The shadow ball narrowly missed the Golurk, he shouted at his mate for this error. Gre had to act. Dumort could not handle all of them, not alone. Gre observed the scene to see who was the nearest enemy to him. A Chandelure who was waiting to get a clear shot didn't seem to expect a Greninja to attack from above.

The perfect target.

Gre leapt from the roof he was standing on and was about to land on the Chandelure. His two hands were wrapped with dark energy and he dealt the Chandelure a night slash. The Chandelure didn't even scream and got unconscious. Gre observed the scene again and saw Daniel doing what seemed to be a shadow sneak to the Haunter who wasn't able to elude it. His terrifying shadow wrapped the Haunter and then returned to the Dusknoir, leaving an unconscious Haunter. Gre focused again and saw an Aegislash in his blade form who was about to rush into the Dusknoir. The Greninja sprinted and jumped to strike the steel type a night slash. But suddenly the Aegislash noticed the dark type and got the perfect time reaction to get in his shield form. His shield was now glowing. Gre stroke the shield and jumped backwards to avoid getting hit by any incoming attack from the ghost type. Oddly, he felt weaker, Gre didn't understand. The Aegislash went back to blade form and sneered. She did something to him. That must be the shield. The Aegislash called a Shedinja, who was simply staring at him with an impassible face. That was really problematic. The Shedinjas were vulnerable only to super effective attacks.  
And he didn't have any against him.  
The Aegislash spinned round and round really fast and rushed the Greninja. The water type jumped high enough to dodge the gyro ball but the Shedinja was behind was the steel type and his claws extended and were ready to slash. The dark type propulsated himself with a waterfall attack, avoiding the X-scissor. He realized that the face of the Shedinja was actually terrifying in a fight. Suddenly he heard something coming from behind him. He quickly stepped aside but he felt a sudden huge pain in his arm. He moaned. He looked behind and saw another Gengar who actually shot a focus blast at him.

"Seems like we were right about that traitor, he wanted to sneek you into the palace!" the Gengar said with his big smile one his face.

They were now three against the Greninja. Gre wondered how he would handle all of them with an injured arm. Suddenly the Shedinja got wrapped in a shadow. It disappeared and the Shedinja was one the ground, fainted., apparently. Everyone looked at Dumort, who managed to faint both his opponents. Gre wasn't able to hide his suprise, he was impressed by the Dusknoir who won against two foes.

"You need some help?" Dumort said.

This was ironic since Gre was the one who wanted to help. But he appreciated it. The Aegislash rushed Gre while doing a gyro ball. Gre rolled aside despite the painful arm. Then he threw a water suriken at the steel type. The Aegislash was once again quick enough to get changed into shield form and protect himself. The shuriken hit the shield. When the ghost type was about to drop his guard, the dark type immediately leapt on her and stroke her with a night slash next to the eye. This time, she wasn't fast enough. She went backwards because of the impact, still able to fight. Suddenly he heard something coming towards him and noticed glowing projectiles targeting him. The Greninja did a backflip to dodge the dazzling geam. He looked where did the geams come from and saw the Haunter who got punched, he looked angry. Gre focused again and the Aegislash spinned round and round again charged the Greninja. He rolled aside and threw a water shuriken to the steel type. It stroke her eye, making her stop the attack. Dumort took advantage of it to finish her with a strong enough ice punch. While doing it, the Gengar shot a shadow ball towards him.

"Watch out!" Gre shouted.

The Dusknoir moved aside but got hit in the arm. He seemed to resist, surprisingly. While the Gengar wasn't paying intention, Gre jumped on him and slashed him with night slash. The ghost type collapsed, still beaming. Upon seeing that, the Haunter tried to retreat but was catched by Daniel's shadow. He was left unconscious. He was the last one.

"Let's go, the noise must have attracted other persons." Daniel said in a hurry.

"You're okay?" Gre asked, looking at the injured arm.

"It's alright."

How could it be alright? That was a Gengar's shadow ball, it can not be weak, but Gre decided to not insist. They entered in the palace by the giant doors. They entered in large hall. A chandelier was at the center of the ceiling, illuminating the whole room. Two stairs went each other to their opposite side, even if they overlook to the same corridor. Nobody was here.

"Follow me, we have to be careful. Since the palace is pretty big, the guards are very spread out. It doesn't seem so but there are actually a lot of them." Daniel said quietly.

Gre nodded. They went up the stairs and observed both sides of the corridor. Nobody was around. All of a sudden Gre heard footsteps from a door next to them. They hid in the door's side. They were light, so the person wasn't big. The door opened and a Sableye wearing an armband showed up. The ghost type didn't even see them when Gre stroke his head with a night slash, he was knocked out without a single scream. But now they had to hide the Sableye. But there wasn't any hiding place.

"Put them below the stairs, we can't do better." the Dusknoir said hurriedly.

He was right. He went down the stairs with the body and released it. He rejoined Daniel.

"You know the way?" Gre asked.

"Sure." the Dusknoir answered with certainty.

"Daniel?"

"Yeah?"

"Who is the Governor?"

"To be honest, I don't know."

This answer quite surprised Gre.

"I mean, I did see him in person, I kinda know his mentality. But except that, I don't know who he was, why he is here. No one does. I don't even know what Pokémon he is."

"What?"

"I never saw someone from the same species than him."

That was absurd. Was the Governor a unique Pokémon? That was impossible. The only Pokémons who were unique were the legendary ones. And nobody saw them. Gre ruled out this possiblity, the Governor was probably just a rare Pokémon that Daniel never saw or heard about before. Gre started to become worried about all of this, but he focused again.

Gre and Daniel continued to progress in the palace for a while, then they reached a large corridor, with a big door at its end. Nobody was here, which was weird.

"This is it. The portal room is just after this room. The Governor's office." The Dusknoir said.

And there were no guards? Nothing? Gre doubted there was something else. It can not be that easy. Especially that there was less guards in the palace than he expected. Something was wrong, so he walked prudently. When they were close to the door, he stopped and turned around. Nobody was behind them. That was it? Gre found this more and more stranger.  
Suddenly four smiling purple faces appeared simultaneously around him from nowhere. Their eyes glowed, he wasn't able to move anymore. He was still able to talk.

"Daniel I need help!" the Greninja shouted to the Dusknoir.

Daniel turned around, but he seemed to already know what was happening. All of a sudden he laughed:

"Hahaha! Nice work you four!"

"No problem." the four faces replied at the same time.

These were Spiritombs, Gre remembered the name of their rare species. But something was way more important. What was Daniel doing?

"Daniel where is the sense in all of this?" he asked, but he was scared of the answer.

"The sense? Well... I just led you into what they may call... a trap."

"Why?!"

"Because this place is not where you belong. Ahh it reminds me old memories."

"What?! Does it mean..."

"Oho! Seems like you aren't that stupid after all. Yes, what I'm doing to you right now, this is what I did to the Roggenrola long ago. The four brothers who are here used their disable attacks at her like they did to you. I wasn't able to see if she had an eye but I was easily able to see her fear and despair."

If Gre wasn't paralysed, he would have already leapt on Daniel to make him quiet. But it was incoherent with the battle earlier.

"But why did the guards attack earlier?"

"They simply didn't know that I became the alive Pokémons hunter. We told the guards that I helped that Roggenrola to escape and that I was dismissed, so my job would be way easier. Look you didn't even doubt a moment that I was fooling you this whole time."

He was right. Gre was fooled, as Lary who wouldn't believe that one of his friends would betray them.

"So everything you told us was a lie?!" Gre asked.

"Not exactly. I really don't know who the Governor is, he's a pure mystery to us. But there's something I'm sure about. Even if you avoided the trap and passed the doors, he would have kicked your ass without a problem."

Right after the Dusknoir finished his sentence, Gre felt a sudden new presence, but he couldn't turn his head to see if it was behind him. It didn't seem to though.

Daniel resumed: "And if you want to know what actually happened to the Roggenrola, I don't know neither. Only the Governor does. You can ask him right now if you want, because he's actually among us at this moment."

"What?" Gre replied, worried. He wasn't able to move at all, he was completely vulnerable.

Suddenly, someone appeared right next to the Dusknoir from nowhere. Their body was really thin, except at the bottom, and dark. Their shoulders were widened, looking like epaulettes, and were distorted. His arms were thin as well but they didn't have legs. They had a sort of red scraf aroud their tall, pointed white head, distorted as well. It let appear only his left eye.  
Gre never saw this Pokémon before.

"Nice capture, Daniel. A Greninja. Surprising." the Pokémon talked with a male voice.

"All my pleasure, sir. What are we going to do now?" the Dusknoir asked.

"Bring him to my office."

The doors opened and they entered in a rather big room. On their right, the wall was just an enormous pane which allowed to have a view on a big part of the city. In front of it was placed a desk with papers and a plume next to a pot filled with ink. The dark Pokémon approached the pane and watched the city.

"You can go, Daniel." he suddenly said.

"But I thought..."

"Take the Spiritombs with you, come back when I tell you to."

And he quit the room with the four Spiritombs. Gre wasn't able to move yet. The Governor then came closer to the Greninja and stared at him with a dark look.

"First, I'd like to have a chat with you..."

**End of chapter 7**

* * *

I'd like to thank the "Reviewer" for... reviewing the chapters and being respectful. I hope that the chapters are more pleasant to read since his review. And about that Pokémon at the end, it's Darkrai. I know he isn't a ghost type but I'll explain why he is here in the next chapter. Anyway I hope you liked it and see you.


	8. Chapter 8: Nightmare

Hey.

Here it is, chapter 8. Sorry for the wait, was a bit busy so I didn't find much time to spend on this. But I'm rather happy of what it is so I hope you'll enjoy it.

Anyway; please enjoy!

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

* * *

**Chapter 8: Nightmare**

Since they were left alone, only the rain was audible with the water drops banging against the window. The dark Pokémon was staring at the city. Gre was still paralysed. He wondered what the Governor wanted to do with him. Then the dark Pokémon finally talked:

"So, I'll begin with a simple one: why are you here?"

"I arrived here by accident."

"You think I'm a fool? I know that you made the ground that blocked the way to down here collapse."

"No I'm not... I fought an Aerodactyle earlier and he fell with me."

"Well that's strange. I didn't see any when I got there."

The Aerodactyle was gone? He probably woke up and went to the surface.

"Anyway, I don't really care about why you're here."

He was still staring at the city. Gre started to be able to move his body a bit, but not completely.

"Do you know why people come here?" The Governor asked.

"Because they don't want to die, right?"

"It's a bit more complicated. When someone dies in this region, they reappear in this place if they don't think that their life was fulfilled. I send someone to talk to them to see if they do think that if they disappear now, they won't find peace ever. But staying here is risky, because some may stay here forever. Looking for something that they would never find. Some of them are here for ages, literally. But I cannot say that I understand them or something like this. I'm not even a ghost."

"But... why are you here then?" Gre asked quite surprised.

"I've been assigned here. By... a higher being who thinks that I have the skills to do this... job. I hate it but I can't do anything against it. Since he told me to do that, it's now my duty."

"But who is he?"

"I can't tell his name or what it is. Because if I do, he will immediately know and he will check what is happening down here. And if he sees you, something REALLY bad will happen."

"So that's why you don't want any alive Pokémon here."

"That's the case. He told that absolutely no one should go out from this place alive."

He turned around and stared at Gre with his blue eye.

"That's why you have to die."

"But how would he know that I'd take the portal? Or that you pronounced his name?"

"Because his name is BANNED from this world. If I ever do say his name, he will immediately know and see it as a call. And he wants me to call him only for emergencies. He isn't supposed to know if the portal is used or who is using it, but I don't want to take the risk. I guess you cannot understand since you don't know him at all or even saw him, his power overwhelms ours by far. We can't do anything against him."

"Wait, what do you mean by "banned"?"

"Well, let's say Arceus banned him from this world."

Gre didn't respond. He immediately understood the fear of the Governor.

"That's right. The one who is truly ruling over this place and the Dead dimension, is simply someone or something that only God himself was able to stop. Is that enough for you?"

Gre now had to deal with a dilemna. Will he take the portal or will he not? The Governor said that his master isn't supposed to know when the portal is used and who used the portal. But what if they actually do? The Governor wasn't sure of what he affirmed and Gre didn't need to read his thoughts to know he was terrified by his master and his power. According to the Governor, "something really bad will happen" if he's seen. But he wasn't able to abandon Lurio and die, while the Aerodactyle is alive. Was he going to take the risk or not?  
The Governor came closer:

"Anyway, I wanted to talk so you'd understand why this place is not for alive people like you. And why the only safe solution is to kill you."

A distorted ball of dark liquid appeared on his hand, it kept growing until being larger than his body. A weird smell overwhelmed the room. He threw it towards Gre.  
The Greninja moved instinctively and dodged the sludge bomb. It exploded and the liquid spread around where he was standing. The smell suddenly got way worse. Gre had to put his hand on his nose to not collapse because of to the disgusting whiff. He decided to not take it because he couldn't leave Lurio. Not yet. It was maybe selfish, but he simply couldn't. The dark Pokémon now looked upset.

"I see that you don't understand. Very well then, we'll do it in the hard way."

He clicked his fingers and a sudden fast and small dark beam got through his head before he could react. Oddly, he felt his eyelids getting heavier. He didn't have the force to stand anymore and he collapsed, his eyes closed. Everything went black and silent.

He opened his eyes. But he was in a completely different area... it was familiar to him. He was in a beach, palm trees were spread around. Outside of the beach was a jungle and a house, made with wood and straws. Other houses with the same architecture were around the beach. A mountain was not too far away of his position. He has already been there before. The architecture of the houses, the jungle, the mountain... He knew this place, but he could not tell what it was. Then he noticed something about himself when he looked at his hands. He wasn't a Greninja anymore. He was a Froakie again. It felt really weird, but not that much strangely. He was more intrigued by the mountain. It was like he was a child again. As he went through the jungle, he noticed what seemed to be a playground, even if it was quite empty, there was only a ball made of leaves, filled with grass. Gre didn't know how, but he was aware of how the ball was made. He was clearly here before.  
Then he remembered. He saw himself playing with the ball with other Froakies. They were playing quite often a game where someone has to keep the ball from everyone else. They called it "the guardian". Someone else was around to watch them, in case it would end bad. A training parkour was a bit further behind him. He decided to go there. A few moment later, he finally saw it. The parkour was among the trees, platforms were created on the trunks. He could see the rope he used to swing and reach the next tree. Then he noticed the training field. Long sticks were on the ground, they were used as weapons, and sometimes they used these to learn how to fight in close range with a water shuriken. Small wooden shurikens were used to improve their throws and they had to hit the several targets. Suddenly he saw a Greninja watching a Fraokie. The Froakie was actually him. And the Greninja was... his father. His father called him to go to the beach for swimming practice. He recalled how his father was. He was rather strict but he was actually a nice person. They often played together and he always helped Gre when he had a problem. Afterwards he saw an other Froakie joining him and his father. He knew him. His name was Fil. He was probably the funniest person he ever knew but was really skilled. He was actually...  
...his brother.  
Suddenly everything disappeared and a thunderstorm appeared out of nowhere. He looked around and nobody was here anymore. The sky got very dark in one instant. Gre was confused by what just happened.

"Gre..."

He immediately looked at where the voice came from. Nobody was there. Who was this person who suddenly called him? Then he looked at the mountain and he saw a Froakie who was climbing it, all alone. He decided to join him. When he came closer of the mountain, the mountain didn't seem that high, but climbing will still be rough because of the rain. Then he remembered there was a path leading to the top of it. He looked for it after a while and he found it. The ground was a bit slippery but still usable. The more he was climbing, the more the path was steep. The wind was more violent, it was harder to climb but he finally reached the top. He recalled that he and Fil came here often to discuss about various things. It was there that he discovered that Fil was actually lacking of self-confidence, always scared to fail. So he was trying to hide his fear with jokes and apparent good mood. Then he thought about Lurio. Fil and he were somewhat similar, they both lacked self-confidence despite their skills. But Lurio can be very determined to accomplish his goals and is quite sensitive. Fil was the type of person who could joke about serious thingsbut he knew when time is for jokes and when it is not. He asked himself the same question: How did he forget everything? His family? His home? What happened? Suddenly he heard screams coming from the top. He hurried and saw Fil, attacked by a group of four Staraptors. A Staraptor standing in front of Fil, his prey. The Staraptors didn't notice Gre, it was a good moment to intervene and save Fil. He had to act now! He prepared to jump and...  
He didn't.

"Come on! Go! Why am I just standing here?!" he talked to himself.

His body didn't respond. It was like his body was petrified. When he was about to take a step, his body immediately stopped. Gre tried everything to finally make his body move, but noting happened. Why wasn't he moving? Was he paralysed... by fear? No, he had to move, his brother had to be saved, he had to act NOW! The Staraptor captured Fil and took off. The group was now going. Fil was screaming for help. He noticed Gre and called for help as loudly as possible:

"GREEE! HELP MEE!"

Then he disappeared among the fog. The Staraptors took him. It was too late now. Gre didn't act when he was able to. Gre was shocked by what he saw... horribly ashamed of himself. He didn't act. He was too fearful to just move. To try to save his brother, and now he was gone, forever.  
That was what happened that day. He let his brother die and was ashamed of himself. Fil saw the cowardness of Gre and screamed for help. If he was still alive, he would just be angry towards his own brother for abandoning him. Gre was too ashamed to comeback home, so he left. The island, his clan, his family, everyone. Because he was too scared of how would everyone react to his cowardness. He swam as far as he could during the thunderstorm. The sea was violent and he ended being in reefs. An enormous wave carried him and he collided with a boulder, Gre guessed he fell unconscious at the impact. Then by luck, he ended on a beach, where people found him, Durry included. And because of the heavy impact, he got amnesiac. Now he remembered, remembered everything. Everything about how he let his brother die without doing anything to help. Everything around him disappeared and Gre seemed to be in the void, there was a strange light coming out of nowhere, illuminating the "room". Gre just noticed he was a Greninja again. But he didn't care. He was only thinking about how much of a coward he was.

"Finally you remember."

He raised his head. A Greninja was standing in front of him, the arms crossed. He was... just like Gre. But this time, the other "himself" knew he was there.

"I waited for so long for you to finally remember."

"Who... are you?" Gre asked, still not recovered.

"Guess..."

"...I don't know."

"You're really pathetic, you don't even try?"

Gre didn't answer.

"Hmpf. Our father would be ashamed of what you became."

This sentence got Gre's intention.

"...Fil?"

"What an idiot... I am YOU."

Gre didn't know how to react.

"I started to exist since you killed our brother."

"No... I didn't... kill him."

"You did, you let those Staraptors take him and eat him for lunch. Because you're a selfish coward who acts only when you're sure you're going to win."

Gre didn't reply. He was probably right. The moments when he does act was when he had an advantage over his enemies.

"And you were trying to forget everything, live a happy life like nothing happened. But at the end? It came back to you to remind you of what you truly are: a coward who let his brother die."

The whole place transformed again and became a cave. It was the area where he and Lurio fought the Mega-Aerodactyle. Then he saw the Aerodactyle's back. He seemed to eat something noisily. After a little while he noticed he was actually eating someone, and they were... a Lucario. Lurio. Gre gasped upon realizing what was happening in front of him. He closed his eyes to avoid seeing any more of this horror. That cannot be true. It cannot. He saved Lurio earlier, it cannot be true. Or maybe it was... happening right now while he is down here doing nothing to save him. That would mean he repeated the same error, he didn't learn anything from the past. He let someone else close to him die. He is... He collapsed, paralysed by his thoughts.

"That's right."

The other Gre was staring at him, despising the pathetic Gre unable to move anymore.

"You will repeat the same mistake. Whatever you're going to do, you will repeat the same mistake again and again. You bring nothing good for the people in this world. You tried to deny that fact but during all this time, it was screaming while you were plugging your ears. Keep doing it, and it will scream louder and louder until you can't take it anymore. Don't tell me people were happy with you, at the end they will die as your brother did. And you won't be able to protect them. Do you know what you have to do now? Die. Die and people won't die because of your fault anymore. And maybe your brother would be finally in peace, by seeing you finally accepting what you are. And Lurio will not die."

The area went black again. There were only the two Greninjas. Gre was quiet. Maybe he was right after all...

"Or the other solution, if you're too coward to sacrifice yourself, is to go, go far away from everyone, so they won..."

"No."

"...What did you just say?"

"No. All of your saying is wrong. My brother died years ago. Now I have changed. Everything is different. I won't repeat the same mistake. What I just saw was just a nightmare. Lurio is alive and I'm going to do everything to help him survive in this world. And I made a promise to him. I won't die. And I don't want to live like this, I don't want to live like YOU."

"You forgot what I said? Whatever you're going to do, he will die!"

"How can you be so sure about that? If I don't even try, he will surely die. If I don't try, then I'm a coward. You repeated many times that I am a coward. But what you said, it shows you're actually one. All this time, I protected Lurio against many enemies, and I will continue until my last breath."

Gre stood up. He formed a water shuriken with his hands and raised it against the other Gre.

"Show me that you're right." He said with a determined tone.

The other Gre created a water shuriken as well.

"I will."

And they both leapt on each other, armed with the water shurikens. They both stroke at the same time and the blades of the water shurikens collided, making both Greninjas stop in front of each other. The enemy Gre ducked and tempted to knock down Gre with his leg. Gre reacted in time to jump behind his enemy and dodge the attack. Upon landing, he threw his shuriken towards the other Gre. But his enemy blocked it with his, deviating it from his trajectory. His enemy jumped towards Gre to land a kick. Gre jumped backwards far enough to dodge the attack. But the other Gre immediately threw his water shuriken towards him. Upon landing, Gre had just the time to lean backwards, the shuriken brushed past his nose, he felt the solidified water barely touching him. He stood up straight and his enemy leapt on him, but this time he didn't have the time to react. He received a punch in the face and was fell backwards on his back. The other Gre was now dominating and was attacking him with several other punches. The Greninja was blocking these with his arms then he bent his knees and he repulsed him. His enemy moved away and created another water shuriken. He was very aggressive, trying to not give a break to Gre to tire him and finish him. What Gre had to do was to counter him and end the combat. He created another water shuriken and prepared himself to counter the next attack. The other Greninja used a waterfall attack and rushed him, the body quite wrapped with water. Gre did the same. As they were about to collide, he deviated his trajectory and passed right above the other Gre and grabbed his leg through the water in fury, stopping him in his run up. He headed upwards and released the other Gre, then he charged him with a waterfall attack. His enemy, unable to react, received the hit head-on and they both crashed on the ground. He spit out some blood at the impact. He was now lying on the ground, still holding the water shuriken surprisingly. Gre approached but he didn't drop his guard. Suddenly the other Gre leapt on Gre to deal a slash. The Greninja reacted fastly enough to not get sliced in a half but his leg got touched. He fell on his back and the other Greninja was now standing in front of him, his hand was on his chest because of the pain.

"Give up alrea..." He coughed and continued. "I don't want this to end badly."

"Aren't you supposed to know..." Gre created a water shuriken. "That I won't give up that easily?"

He immediately stood up and tried to lend a hit on his foe. The other Gre blocked the attack with his shuriken, then began a series of quick attacks and blocks where one mistake could end the fight. Gre, who knew he would not stand much longer because of his wound, decided to finish it. He jumped and was about to deal a vertical heavy strike on his enemy. Upon seeing the attack, the other Gre jumped backwards so he would dodge it. Gre expected this and instead he threw his water shuriken towards his enemy. The other Greninja didn't have much to time to react so all he was able to do was to barely block it, he was destabilized.  
Now was his chance.  
Upon landing, he immediately leapt on his foe and landed a kick on the chest already damaged. His enemy was flung backwards and fell heavily on his back. Gre created another water shuriken and jumped on his foe to really land a strike this time. The other Gre wasn't able to react and Gre planted the water shuriken right in the middle of the heart. The other Gre screamed, but he had another voice, one he already heard.

He woke up breathless. He stood up wondering if everything was a dream. Then he noticed the Governor, who seemed hurt in the chest.

"Argh... you little..."

How did he get hurt? He was oddly hurt at the same spot as where the other Gre was hurt. There was nobody else in the room. This cannot be a coincidence. Gre heard that Pokémons were able to enter in someone's mind. Maybe the Governor was able to do so. Then the fact that he was hurt could be because he took his form in his dream, so he would break his mind. That would mean he saw everything about him, about his past. And he tried to use it to shatter his will.

"How... did you do it? I saw everything. I saw your hidden grief, and you were almost broken by it."

"I just remembered I still had to do something here. As I already said to you, I didn't do anything to save my brother back then. But now I changed and I won't let anyone close to me die without doing anything."

The Governor was thinking. Then he stared at Gre in a threatening way with his eye.

"You may have good reasons to want to go out. But I have mine too to not let you go!"

He stood up and took a deep breath.

"I am Darkrai, the Nightmare Pokémon, and I won't take any risk to fulfill my duty!"

He charged a sludge bomb and threw it towards Gre, He jumped aside to dodge it. The explosion caused the smell to reappear again. Gre decided to breath by the mouth. Darkrai charged a dark beam and shot it on Gre who was running in the room to dodge the dark pulse. Gre recalled how he fell asleep. He had to be careful about the dark beam that touched him earlier. Gre created a water shuriken to block it in case Darkrai would use it again. He leapt on his adversary and tried to land a strike. Darkrai immediately disappeared thanks to a portal. He reappeared behind the Greninja. Gre forgot he was able to use portals quickly. Then Darkrai raised his hand and clicked his fingers. This time Gre was prepared and he raised the water shuriken and blocked the quick dark beam. Darkrai grunted. He charged two sludge bombs at the same time and threw one at Gre. Gre jumped again to dodge it but the Governor, who expected the move, quickly threw to other one when Gre wasn't able to dodge it. So the Greninja threw his water shuriken into the bomb, making it explode. The released digusting liquid touched Gre and the explosion flung Gre into the window which almost gave way. The Governor shot a dark pulse towards Gre. He immediately jumped and narrowly dodged the beam which broke the window, making the rain enter in the room. The water drops falling into Gre's skin gave him energy. Darkrai clicked his fingers again, Gre immediately dodged it by moving his head to the left. He noticed the Governor was aiming the head when he used he dark beam. He found a weak point in the attack, at least he was hoping so. Gre wrapped himself with water and propelled himself towards Darkrai fast. Surprised by his speed, Darkrai used a portal below him to disappear. But this time, the Greninja had enough time to reach his hand and grab it. He forced the Governor out and, put him in front of him and they crashed into the wall. He heard the Governor scream and spit out something, but nothing got out of his "mouth". But Darkrai immediately shot a dark pulse into Gre. He wasn't able to dodge it and took it. The Governor continued shooting at Gre who was already on the ground. The pain kept increasing, Gre started screaming due to it. When it finally stopped, Darkrai was about to smash Gre's head with his two fists. Gre rolled aside. His back was very painful and standing straight was a true pain. He leapt on Darkrai who used a portal again. But Gre was fast enough to grab him and he was taken into the portal, which surprised the Governor:

"What?! What are you..."

He was in an other world. It was a giant empty space where he could only see purple and black. He was holding Darkrai who was struggling to get the Greninja off. Gre did a gunk shot to Darkrai. He screamed and was flung backwards but Gre was still holding him. Darkrai, who looked angry, shot a dark pulse on Gre, but Gre moved to dodge the beam which continued his way among the infinite space.

"GET OFF ALREADY!" Darkrai shouted in rage.

He punched Gre's face, he didn't hit that hard, Darkrai seemed weak physically. He punched Gre a second time in the ribes and tried to punch him a third time but the Greninja stopped it with a night slash. Darkrai moaned and charged another dark pulse. Gre grabbed his head with his two hands and was now on the Governor's back. The Governor shot blindly in the void, screaming in rage. Gre wrapped his hand with dark energy and hit several time Darkrai's back. Darkrai created a portal and used his hand to remove Gre's hand on his face. Gre ended up releasing it. He grabbed quickly one of the Governor's arms to get out of here. He went out of the dimension and was back in the Governor's room. Gre released the arm and prepared to dodge any incoming attack. Darkrai created an other sludge bomb and immediately threw it towards him. Gre jumped aside and he landed on the disgusting liquid of the previous sludge bombs. Darkrai clicked his fingers all of a sudden. Gre dodged it just in time by moving the head. When the Governor shot a dark pulse, the Greninja created a water shuriken and blocked the beam with it, he was almost pushed against the wall. When he stopped, he immediately threw a sludge bomb afterwards. The water type just had the time to dodge the ball but he was touched by the explosion and fell on the stomach. He was just below Darkrai who was about to shoot an other dark pulse. He noticed he dropped the water shuriken and it was out of reach. Suddenly, something came to his mind...

_"Dad? How did you do it?"_

_Gre was next to his father at the beach. He saw him creating two sort of little swords of water with his hands. Greninjas were able to create something else than a water shuriken with their hands? He was surprised by what he saw and wanted to know what were these objects. His father looked at him, looking rather surprised to see his son here._

_"Aren't you supposed to be training with Tayk?" He asked._

_"He still isn't there so I went here to see if he was coming. But Dad what are those?"_

_Gre stared at the little swords of solidified water. His father glanced at these and smiled._

_"We call these water daggers."_

_"Ooh, and what is their use?"_

_"They're mainly for close combat. You see, the water shurikens may be bigger than the daggers, but they aren't really adapted for close combats because of their sizes and shapes. You can't do agile moves with these." _

_He created a water shuriken and demonstrated his saying by placing it at different spots. He was indeed not able to do agile moves without cutting himself. He took the daggers again._

_"But with the water daggers, you can pratically do what you can't do with the water shuriken. You are way more agile with these since they're shorter and their shapes are adapted for close combat. You can throw them as well but it's less effective than a water shuriken because they won't go as far as the shuriken does. And they're faster to create too."_

_"How do we create these?"_

_"It's... you have to do the same thing than when you create a water shuriken. But your hands are separated, you have to imagine the shape of the dagger. You concentrate your water in both of your hands but this time, it's to create two different objects that's the hardest thing to do."_

_"I see..."_

_Gre imagined him creating the daggers, but he was obviously not able to create one currently._

_"You should rejoin your mates back there now, I don't think Tayk would be happy to see you being late."_

_"Alright. See you later Dad!"_

_"Later, son."_

Gre concentrated water in both of his separated hands and imagined the shapes of the daggers. The water took the form of daggers and solidified itself. Darkrai shot the dark pulse but the Greninja blocked the beam with both of his daggers. Darkrai took a surprised look but continued shooting. Gre's arms were burning to stop the beam and was struggling to keep resisting. Darkrai stopped the beam and distanced himself from him, probably because he was too tired to continue. Gre stood up, holding his new weapons and out of breath. Darkrai stared at the water daggers.

"What are these?" He asked, rather intimidated.

"Water daggers. Thanks to you, I remember now how to make these." Gre answered, gripping the daggers.

Darkrai grunted but he didn't have the time to attack again because Gre leapt on him. He dodged the incoming strike but Gre continued attacking. As expected, he was way more agile with the water daggers than with the water shuriken. He touched Darkrai's arm with one of his daggers. The Governor moaned and continued going backwards. Then Gre jumped on him when he was off guard. He fell on his back, with Gre standing on him with his daggers right next to his throat. He wasn't moving anymore. After a moment staring at each other, the Governor finally said:

"Alright, alright... you won. I'll let you go."

Gre moved away the daggers and stepped backwards. He didn't drop his guard in case Darkrai would stab him in the back. Darkrai opened a door at the other side of the room. There was a hallway which led to an other room a bit further.

"Go there. This is the portal room. The portal will take time to activate so you'll have to wait."

Gre walked in the hallway, still keeping an eye on the Governor who added:

"But don't EVER make me regret my choice. Because if you do tell a single word about this place, I will do everything to make you quiet forever. Understood?"

"I promise I won't." Gre nodded.

Darkrai closed the door. Gre continued his way in the hallway. When he reached the end, he opened the door and entered in a rather small room. A circle of rocks was at its center with symbols on the ground. When he stepped on it, the symbols lighted up and scintillations were emanating from them. Now all he had to do was to wait. Suddenly the door opened again and the Governor appeared once again. Gre was wary.

"Someone wants to talk to you." Darkrai said.

He stepped aside and Lary appeared. He entered and the Governor closed, leaving the Dusclops and the Greninja alone.

"You did it then." Lary spoke with a happy tone.

"Yeah. We can say that. But how did you get here?"

"There was no guards when I came. Fortunately I came before other guards would join the place to help the ones you took out. About Dumort, yeah I just dicovered he trapped the Roggenrola and you. He didn't want to be banned and I undertood him. But he didn't want to let me pass so I had to use the force." He looked at his hand and continued: "Then I came and you both finished. Surprisingly, the Governor accepted easily that I would talk to you."

"Why did you want to talk to me then?"

"I just wanted to tell you something..."

The ghost type took a deep breath.

"You see, when I was alive, I was part of... a group. There, we were close to each other, we considered everyone as a member of a family. That's what I thought though. I had two friends. And they were married. But one day, we learned the truth about that group. About how much of a madness our goal was. For years I believed we were doing right, but actually, we were terrorizing people and killing them for something foolish. And everyone there was mad and believed terror was the way. So we escaped, my friends and I. Since that moment, they stopped considering us as a part of the family, but as traitors. The father got killed in the run. He refused my help and told his wife and me to run. I still remember his cry before it was immediately stopped. His wife wasn't able to forgive herself and I don't even know for how many hours she did cry and blame herself. That was that day she laid an egg. She decided to hide it from them. So we thought that the Giant Snow peak was the best place to hide."

At these words, Gre thought about Lurio. His eyes widened upon thinking about this idea.

"We placed everything to keep the egg warm. I promised the mother to watch the kid when the egg hatches. But when we got the mountain's bottom, they found us again. One was about to kill her, so I took the hit in her place. I told her to go so the kid would still have a mother when he'll hatch. But I couldn't leave this world until I'm sure the kid was safe so I came here. But when I went back to the top of the mountain as a Dusclops, the egg already hatched and the bag we left was gone."

The kid was Lurio. Gre was now absolutely sure.  
The lights intensified. Ge was about to be teleported. Gre didn't want to go though, not yet. Lary continued:

"I'll stay here because I want to see who the kid became. When I'll be sure he's safe, I'll probably go."

Gre felt his body levitating in the air and the lights intensified again. His body started glowing.

"Just... tell Lurio his parents were awesome people. That... her mother left him at the top of a mountain because she knew he would be able to climb down. Goodbye..."

"No wait!"

He wasn't able to hear anything anymore and he was blinded by the sudden intense light which overwhelmed his view. He wasn't feeling nothing for a while and fell unconscious...

Gaby was holding Lurio back for a while now. The Lucario didn't care about his wound on the chest, his priority was to help Gre.

"LET ME GO! I HAVE TO HELP HIM!" He shouted in rage and sadness.

"DON'T! If you go, you'll surely join him in death! That would make his sacrifice useless!" The Garchomp yelled, trying to hide his sadness.

"But... but... I can't leave him! He may be still there!"

He managed to free himself from the Garchomp hwo tried to catch the Lucario again.

"WAIT!" Gaby screamed.

Suddenly Lurio heard something behind him. He immediately calmed down and turned around to see what it was. Gaby also heard it. It was close. Lurio went towards the source of the sound. Then he heard grunts. He gasped upon seeing what was behind some rocks: Gre was there laying on the ground, injured. The Greninja raised his head and noticed the Lucario:

"...Lurio?"

"GRE!"

Lurio rushed into the Greninja and wrapped him with his arms. Gre didn't try to repulse him. Lurio burst into tears upon when he saw the one he lived the most was still alive. Gre hugged him in return, happy to see him again.

"But... how did you get here? I... saw you falling with the Aerodactyle... How did you..." Lurio asked quite in confusion.

"I..."

Gre stopped a moment. He was hesitating to say something.

"I'm sorry but... I can't say anything."

"Why?"

Gre didn't answer for a little while. But he finally answered:

"I... promised someone I won't say a single word about all of this."

Lurio could not understand what happened down there, but he respected Gre's decision. He could read his thoughts to know what happened, but that would be disrespectful to him. Gaby was looking a Gre, happy to see him but really confused by how he got there. He was a bit wary but seemed to trust the Greninja since the Lucario knew it was him.  
Suddenly they heard something else. A figure got out of the hole where Lurio and the Aerodatyle went through. Lurio and Gre recognized it.

"Watch out!" Lurio shouted.

It was the Mega-Aerodactyle, who screamed out of rage upon seeing the group. But he looked injured and he had problems to fly correctly. So he flought towards the other side of the lake. The entire group relieved. Then Lurio noticed that Gre was upset about something.

"What's the matter Gre?"

"What?"

"You look... upset about something."

"Uh... yeah I'd like to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Someone wanted to tell you... your parents were awesome people."

**End of chapter 8**

* * *

I hope you enjoyed it!

For next chapter, it may take longer becasue I'm not really sure what to do.

Please leave a comment if you want to say something.


	9. Chapter 9: A new enemy

Hello, and nope I'm not dead.

I hope everything is going well on your side, with the pandemic and all the other stuff such as the police brutalities in America. Sorry for the very long wait, it took longer than expected. But this chapter is longer than the previous ones. To be honest, I'm happy with what I did here for the most.

Anyway, please enjoy.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon**

* * *

**Chapter 9: A new enemy**

The Riolu was walking through the frizzing blizzard, holding the torch firmly. He was blind in the storm, the powerful wind kept pushing him and the snowflakes bumped into his whole body relentlessly. He didn't know how long he was wandering in this unknown place, but it seemed to be an eternity. Suddenly he tripped over and fell in the thick snow. He raised his head and tried to get up, but he couldn't. His strengh suddenly abandoned him. He stayed down in the snow, hoping it will return. Then he saw a figure not too far from him. There was someone here? This surprised the Riolu, he hoped that they would help him. His strengh returned to him and he got up and walked in the figure's direction. It started to be clear and the little Pokémon recognized it. It was a Lucario and he noticed there were two of them. They stared at him with a warm smile. The Riolu appeared to recognize his parents. So he ran towards them while being on the verge of tears. Finally after all this time, they met again. But suddenly, several enormous shadows appeared behing his parents and firstly stared at him with horrifying red eyes. A hand got out of the shadows and was about to crush his parents. The Riolu cried to tell them to move, but it was too late. The hand crushed them. The black creatures smiled at him, and many hands appeared and grabbed the child who was crying for help and brought him closer to the shadows. Their smile was wider than before and all of a sudden they all screamed loudly with piercing screams. The Riolu could not stand this, he wasn't able to cover his ears. His ears were immediately hurting, his screams of pain weren't even audible to him. He had the impression that his head was going to explode...

Lurio woke up with a start. The jolts in the wagon were violent. He looked at the front of it and noticed that they were in a craggy road. The Mudsdale, who was drawing the wagon, was walking slowly. Lurio thought he was the only one to be awake among the passengers since it was nighttime. The he thought about the nightmare he just had. His nightmares didn't stop after Gre told him what that "Lary" said. Now what he wanted the most was to know his parents, even if they were probably dead. Who were the people who killed his father and Lary? He could not stop thinking about it. He looked on his left and noticed Charles who was staring at the sky on the edge of the wagon. Lurio walked in his direction. Charles looked at him, he seemed surprised.

"Oh, I woke you up?"

"No, I just had a nightmare, again..."

"Ah I see. You can sit here if you want."

Lurio sat next to the Charizard and looked at the moon.

"You still get those nightmares often?" Charles asked.

"Yeah..." the Lucario sighed.

"It's because of what Gre told you?"

"I... I just can't think about something else."

"Don't worry, that's normal actually. Everyone would act the same way if they were you."

"If you say so."

They stayed quiet for a moment, both staring at the stars. Then the Charizard broke the silence:

"You know, I'm surprised we got along so quickly."

"What?"

"I mean, we've been together for not that long, like almost one month, and you and Gre appear to completely trust us even if you don't really know us."

He was actually right. It's been almost one month and Gre and him still don't know who Charles and Gaby were. Yet they got along quickly.

"Well then, can you tell me where you are from?" Lurio asked.

Charles looked embarassed by this question. He answered after a few moments.

"I come from Galor."

"Really?"

"Yes."

Galor was a continent at the north of the Seraïon Kingdom. The two regions were separated by the sea but almost nobody could travel there because of the blocade of the Beritorian Republic. So Galorian people in the Seraïon Kingdom were really rare.

"You came here despite the blocade? But how?"

"We took a secret path, but now I think the Beritorian Republic blocked it by now."

"But why did you leave your country despite the risks?"

"...because of the civil war."

"What?"

"The civil war. Galor has been in chaos for years. It's a battle between the Republicans and the Monarchists. I was a Republican scout soldier back then. After years of constant battles, fear, anger and after I saw all my friends dead... I decided to quit."

Lurio could sense the horror and sadness in Charles's voice. He surely went through horrible things that the Lucario could never imagine.

"...I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't worry. It's been a couple of years since I arrived here. So I moved on to something else, thanks to Gaby.

Lurio stayed silent. He looked behind him and noticed that Gaby was awake and was staring at Charles, then he glanced at the Lucario. He looked neutral. They stopped all of a sudden. The Lucario and the Charizard looked at the front and he saw that the Mudsdale fell asleep. That was odd, the Mudsdale claimed he was used to work late.

"That wasn't the fatigue." Charles seemed to doubt about something.

"Really?"

"Look."

When he looked closer, Lurio noticed some spores on the head of the Mudsdale.  
Someone made him sleep.  
Two Magnetons appeared outside of the wagon and electricity got out of their metallic bodies and wrapped every passengers who woke up at the shock. Lurio tried to move but in vain. Every one of them was paralysed. An Aegislash joined the Magnetons and observed everyone in the wagon. Lurio noticed steel type looked longer at Gre, he didn't seem delighted to see him. But that wasn't the priority.

"Get them out and search them." the Aegislash said to the other steel types with a female voice.

They gathered everyone outside of the wagon without any problem. As they were outside, the Lucario spotted several more Pokémons who surrounded them. The other travellers were still trying to move but a Swampert calmed them with a jab. Then the Magnetons took all the bags they could find and searched in them. They were surely thiefs, looking for objets of high value. But what they found surprised the Lucario. They found dynamites and bags full of gunpowder.

"That's enough to make a hole in a rampart isn't it?" the Aegislash talked to a specter type Marowak

"I don't know what you're talking about." the Marowak replied.

"Yes you do. You clearly do."

"Ma'am, those ones only carry food, and not that much, and a map. And the Greninja, the Garchomp and the Charizard possess a Bounty hunter certification which don't seem fake." a Magneton said to the Aegislash.

All the travellers stared at Lurio and his mates. Something was wrong.

"Whatever you're talking about, we aren't in."

Suddenly the Marowak managed to free himself from the paralysis, knocked out the Swampert with fast bone jab and rushed towards the Aegislash in rage. The steel type reacted immediately and slashed him with his sharp body. The fire type fell over, Lurio could see some blood going out of the body, he averted his eyes.

"A member of the Hell Army would never change sides like that. They're almost fanatics." she said after a short silence. "What are you doing here though?"

"We were going to Borgarion." Charles answered.

"We did send envoys though..." she thought out loud.

"We didn't make it." one of the Magnetons talked. "I was there, it's even a miracle that I'm still alive."

"...Alright. Release these four."

The Magnetons approached them and absorbed the electricity from their bodies, releasing them from the paralysis. The Swampert got back on his feet with the help of a Lairon, then he talked to the Aegislash:

"Wait I think I recognize these guys."

"What?"

"Weren't you in Firstone when the Hell Army showed up?"

"Yes, we were there." Charles answered.

"You're telling me you are..." the Aegislash said.

Everyone whispered things. Some people explained what happened back then.

"But what is happening here?" Charles asked.

The Aegislash hesitated to answer but she did after a few seconds: "Do you know the Shiram Fort?"

"Isn't that the fort which is a few miles away from here?" Gaby answered.

"Yes it is. You must know that there is a siege there."

"A siege?" Charles repeated.

"Yes, by the Hell Army."

The Hell Army, they did face it in Firstone weeks ago. Lurio touched his cicatrized arm upon thinking about what happened there.

"It started three days ago, all outposts around the fort were taken in moment. We are one of the teams sent to capture some of their members and prevent their numbers to increase. And trust me, it's an entire army the fort has to face."

"How can we help?" Charles asked.

"...I'm sorry what?"

"How can we help?"

"Do you think I will ever let some strangers enter..."

The Swampert took part in the discussion: "Officer, did you read the reports? They fought dozens of them all alone, including a damn Heatran, and they somewhat beat them and their commander."

"...You're serious? I thought they just fought a few of them and hid."

"I'm serious. I think we could need such fighters, Even if two of them are really young."

The Aegislash glanced at the group and appeared unsure of what to do. The she sighed:

"Alright then."

She signaled Charles and the others to follow her and the Magnetons. She seemed doubtful if letting a bunch of strangers enter in a dangerous area was a good idea. But if the reports were true, then they could be some good help. That's what Lurio was able to read in the specter type's mind, but he could not find something about what was happening there. After walking for a few hours, the Aegislash suddenly said:

"We'll have to go down from now on."

"Why?" Lurio asked.

"Because if you want to stay alive, it's the only way."

It's been a few hours they were sneaking in the woods, Lurio didn't notice what could be the danger they were hiding from. That was probably a good sign.

"There." the Aegislash said in a relieved tone.

The Lucario saw what seemed to be a fort of the Steel Federation. The Shiram Fort and it was massive. It was built on a mountain and several ramparts were defending the main buildings with several towers. There were plains all around it and Lurio could notice the route they were taking earlier. Then he saw encampments. All the tents were painted in a red similar to blood and many Pokémons were walking around them, probably hundreds. The Aegislash whispered to the others:

"We have to be quick if you want to reach the ramp..."

"OVER THERE!"

Everyone looked on their left and saw an Amoonguss who was calling other people, he was wearing an epaulette and a red armband with the symbol of of flames which formed a cross. Lurio remembered when he already saw that symbol:  
At Firstone, the Hell Army's logo.  
Gre was the first to react by releasing a Gunk shot towards the plant type. The projectile hit him, making him scream and fall backwards. They were able to hear many footsteps coming to their direction.

"GO GO GO!"

And they ran at full speed. Shots crossed the air missed them. Fortunately for them, the walls weren't too far. Lurio perceived Pokémons who were on the ramparts and started attatcking the Hell Army' soldiers with range attacks. Suddenly Lurio heard a scream of pain behind him. He turned around and saw the Magneton on the ground, still conscious. Lurio ran to him and tried to carry the electric type. Then he saw a Focus blast coming right into him. He closed his eyes, ready to take the hit. An explosion occured but the Lucario didn't feel any pain. He opened his eyes to see what happened. The Aegislash protected them with her shield, she blocked a few other shots.

"GO! I'll cover you!"

Lurio hesitated for a few seconds and dragged the Magneton while the Aegislash was taking the hits. Then he saw Gre join him and he helped him to carry the electic type.

"Let's go!" he shouted.

They ran towards an opened door while carrying the Magneton. When they got in, The Aegislash entered too and the other Magneton shut the door immediately. The Aegislash had his shield badly damaged and she was exhausted. Lurio saw that the injured Magneton was surprised that he saved him.

"Thank you." he said in a weak voice.

A Nidoking wearing a grey bandana with a red cross came and carried the Magneton, probably to heal him. A Kabutops who was wearing epaulettes and a grey bandana with the Steel Federation logo on it, an eye similar to a Magneti with a circle around it with two large lines on each side. He was surely an other officer.

"What happened?"

"I brought reinforcements." the Aegislash said with difficulty.

The rock type looked at the group:"Four people?"

"They were the one in Firstone who were fighting it."

"Wait... you are..."

Charles did a "yes" with his head.

"You must see the commander. Follow me."

They exited the ramparts and entered in a yard. Many soldiers were there and it was a hubbub. Most of them were busy, and some were injured, with bandages on their bodies. Nobody seemed to care about their presence since they appeared to think they were other soldiers. After walking for a little while, they entered in the main building which was separated from the rest of the fort by other ramparts. The building was quite big, it almost gave the impression that it was as big as the entire fort, with its towers, bridges and several floors. The ambiance was almost the same, except it was darker obviously. They headed towards a group of officers who were talking to a Tyranitar, his epaulettes appeared to be made of bronze instead of steel and he was wearing a red cape behind him. The Kabutops approached him and whispered into the Tyranitar's ears. He cast a glance at the group an told the other officers to go. They looked at the Lurio and the others, they must be curious about why the Tyranitar wanted to talk to them. Then the rock type spoke:

"I am commander Aleksander, the one in charge of the Shiram fort... and its defense."

"An honour to meet you commander." Charles replied while shaking his hand.

"It's also an honour to meet you. I didn't expect to meet such honourable people. You stood against an enemy who definitely beat you in number and you put them in flight. And I heard you wish to help us, right?"

"That's the case."

"That's perfect then. Because the situation is getting very bad."

He signalled them to follow him. They went up the stairs and they arrived on a balcony, they could see most of the fort, and were at the same height than the ramparts which were quite high.

"We resisted two assaults, repulsed attempts of sabotage but if this continues, our ressources will end up exhausted, too many soldiers are injured, some start to lose their mind because of fear and by watching the fort during entire nights since they are young and not used to such pressure."

"What can we do then?" Lurio asked.

"Help my soldiers. That's all I ask. Officer Lace!"

"Yes sir?"

"Give them bandanas so the integration won't be a problem."

"Yes sir."

"That will be everything."

The group followed Lace and went down the stairs. When they in the romm where they met the commander, the officer opened a wardrobe. There were much supplies in itincluding epaulettes, barrels and boxes of different sizes. The Kabutops grasped a little box and opened it with a claw. There were many grey bandanas with the logo of the Steel Federation in it.

"Take them."

Everyone took a bandana and put it on their arm.

"What should we do now?" Gaby asked for everyone.

"Well, as an officer, I order you, the Garchomp and the Greninja, to guard the entrance and the Charizard and the Lucario will help the medics with the injured people."

"Okay then..."

"You must say "yes sir"."

"Wha... yes sir."

The Kabutops sneered and left them.

Lurio and Charles were watching several injured soldiers, some were sleeping, but most of them were just sitting on their beds and were looking at the ground. Lurio read anxiety and sadness in their minds. Some probably lost friends, Lurio could feel it. Then he looked at Charles who was observing an arm injured Bisharp. The Lucario could sense sadness and empathy within the Charizard but he didn't like the place. It seemed to remind him something. Lurio approached him.

"Something's wrong? You don't seem to like this place." he asked, rather worried.

"Huh? Why would I... Don't tell me you read in my mind." the Charizard's tone was friendly.

"I didn't really need to."

"I guess it's obvious heh."

The fire type sighed.

"It reminds me of the hospitals back there. At the start it wasn't that bad. But years later, when the monarchists started using their war weapons, the number of injured people increased a lot. It was horrible to see them, and hear their groaning. Many lost someone they loved, or a limb..."

Lurio sensed the disgust in his voice. He didn't ask more, it was enough. Especially for Charles.  
The hours passed and Lurio wondered what Gaby and Gre were doing now. Lurio wanted to sleep but he didn't know if he was allowed to since it was almost the morning. Charles came closer and noticed the Lucario's tiredness. He suggested sleeping to Lurio:

"Go sleep a bit, you will fall asleep soon if you won't."

"Am I really allowed to?"

"Of course you are. I'll watch the people while you sleep."

"What about you?"

"I'm used to bad sleep schedules."

Lurio eventually accepted and sat on a chair, it didn't take a long time for him to fall asleep.

"...Lurio wake up."

He slowly opened his eyes. Charles was standing right in front of him and it seemed to be the early morning.

"How long have I been asleep?" the Lucario asked.

"Let's say three hours. Anyway, an officer wanted us to replace some watchers on the remparts since they need some rest. Let's go."

While they were crossing the yard, Lurio was surprised to see that many people who were sleeping. They were probably the watchers during the night, there was no doubts they needed rest. When they entered in the ramparts, they climbed a ladder and reached the top of the walls. Lurio could not deny that the view was nice. They could see the entire valley, a part of the forest in wich they were. the cliff they were supposed to travel on and the encampment of the Hell Army.

"So there it is..." Charles said while observing the encampment.

It wasn't that far, so some figures were visible from here. As he looked carefully, Lurio noticed what appeared to be... catapults. Several of them.

"They have catapults." Lurio said in a worried tone.

"Yeah, they were already here several hours ago." the voice came from a Metang next to him. "We still don't know how they received these."

"They may have built them." Charles seemed convinced by this idea.

"Yeah, probably. By the way I never saw you earlier. You're new here?"

"Kind of." Lurio answered with a smile.

"Wow, Arceus decided to give you bad luck. I'm Alexei."

"I am Lurio."

"My name is Charles. Nice to meet you."

"Me too. Why did the Federation send you here?"

Charles replied before Lurio could say anything.

"Supply of provisions, we were supposed to go to Borgarion right after."

"Oh I see."

The Metang then looked in the direction of the encampment, hid look immediately changed, he seemed scared. Like the Lucario, Charles guessed he didn't feel good.

"You're okay?"

"Yes I'm just... worried."

"You seem to be more than worried."

"What?"

"I know that expression by heart. You're anxious. You're scared of what could happen any second."

"...How can you tell..."

"...I have experience."

The Metang took a moment to respond, then he sighed:

"You know, even if I'm an adult I'm quite young, everyone here is approximately twenty years old, I am just twelve and most of the people who are like me are almost paranoïd. They seem so used to this because they have your experience, and I am just here scared like a Rattata."

"Don't blame yourself, that's completely normal for a young Pokémon like you. Everyone went through this."

"Really?"

"Of course, who wouldn't? I'd like to add that in such a serious situation, you're doing a good job at keeping yourself calm, not many would keep this up that long. You lack self confidence Alexei."

Alexei didn't reply for a moment. Then he finally said:

"Thanks."

They stayed quiet for a while, then they heard sopmeone who called the Metang. He waved at Charles and Lurio and hurried to join the person who called him. Despite the help the Charizard brought to Alexei, the Lucario didn't really understand why he lied to him.

"Was it really necessary to lie?" he whispered to Charles.

Charles replied:

"The commander asked us to stay discreet about who we are for an easier integration. I'm doing what he told me to do. But if you really want to understand why the commander asked us to do it, it's because soldiers won't think we're different from them, they'll think we're soldiers like them, not some Pokémons who fought an enemy who outnumbered them by ten to one. It'll help them focus on what they're doing."

"...I see."

They spent the entire day on the ramparts. Nothing happened while Lurio was watching the plains. He just watched the sunset while the breeze ruffled his fur. Charles went in the closest tower to have a better view.

"Hey."

He turned his head and saw Alexei. He also greeted him.

"Hello."

"You know where is Charles?"

"He's on the tower there, you want to talk to him?"

"Well yeah. but I'll just wait here."

They both stayed silent for a short while.

"You two are friends?" the Metang asked.

"...yeah. Why?"

"You just seem... way younger than him."

Lurio giggled.

"Yes. I'm only eleven."

"Really? You're even younger than me! I'm twelve."

"Heh, I guess we're two 'rookies' then."

They both stayed silent for a short while.

"What did you want to say to Charles?" Lurio asked.

"I just wanted some advices. He seems so seasoned, looks like he went through so many things."

"...Yeah, since he's way older."

"Wait. Look."

Alexei was staring in the direction of the camp. But when Lurio looked as well, he noticed the army was approaching. The catapults were coming closer, even if they weren't that big, they still looked threatening. The army was impressive, they were probably hundreds and they were coming. The battle was near.

"They're coming. How many are they?" the Metang started shaking.

"Hey calm down, it's going to be okay."

"How can you tell?"

Lurio tried to find an answer that would give him confidence, but he didn't find any. He didn't know what to do to help him.

"Alexei." it was Charles's voice.

Alexei and Lurio turned around and saw him. When Alexei was looking at him, Charles clapped his hands strongly right in front of him. This surprised the two steel types.

"...what?" the Metang was as confused as Lurio.

"Are you calmed down?" Charles asked, he looked serious.

"Uhh...yes?"

"It's a way to deal with stress. Now focus. Everyone is needed. Go in the yard, they need hands."

"...Alright!"

As he went down, Lurio could hear every soldiers who were in a hurry, officers who were screaming orders. Everyone was preparing themselves.

"Lurio, we should do the same. Let's join Gre and Gaby, they're also in the the yard."

"Okay!"

They went down the ramparts and looked for Gre and Gaby. The soldiers were blocking the door by putting as many sand bags as they could find. Injured people were brought to the main buildings where they are safe. After a while they found Gaby.

"Gaby!" Charles screamed to be heard.

Gaby heard him and walked towards them, accompanied with Gre.

"How are you both?" the Garchomp asked.

"We're fine. But we should hurry and take position somewhere."

"Well, the good question is: where?"

"Uhm..."

They suddenly heard an unknown voice.

"Charles!"

It was a Dragonite, he was with the Charizard earlier.

"What is it Edward?"

"They have ladders! We need more people on the ramparts. Can you come?"

"No problem."

He looked at Lurio and the others.

"Good luck you three."

"Good luck to you." Gaby replied.

And Charles flew off and joined the Dragonite. The three took position behind a pile of sandbags, like everyone else. Every soldiers with range attacks were either hidden or behind. They were also on the ramparts. When everything was set up, every soldiers stayed quiet and waited for the night to come. They were able to listen heavy steps from the army in front of the fort before they stopped. Lurio sensed that the fear increase in the mind of almost everyone around him. The calm made the situation way more stressful. Nobody was talking, or even moving an inch, they were either staring at the door or the sky. Waiting. Waiting for it to begin. Lurio could hear his heart beating fast. Suddenly, they heard a deep sound, it was from a foghorn, from the other side. Upon it ended, they heard probably hundreds of voices screaming the same words at the time:

"FOR THE HELL ARMY! FALL BEFORE OUR LIGHT!"

They just started to hear heavy steps that the Pokemons on the ramparts started attacking with range attacks.

It began.  
Lurio watched projectiles going through the air above the ramparts, the Steel Federation members crouched to avoid being hit, but some got hit and fell from the walls. All of a sudden, something destroyed partially the top of a rampart, bricks and Pokémons were projected. A big rock fell on the ground with bricks. That was probably thrown by a catapult. Lurio could hear the screams of the people getting hurt, getting thrown by the giant rocks projected at them. An Empoleon was laying on the ground, asking for help:

"Help me please! My leg hurts like hell!"

Lurio was about to rush too carry him, but Gaby put his claw on his shoulder to hold him back..

"Stay here. Look."

A Metang came to the water type and carried him with his hands. It was Alexei.

"We gotta stay here." the Garchomp added.

"Why?"

"We have to stay ready. Let the ones who are close to the injured do the work."

Lurio didn't like that, having to stay here while others are hurt. It's something he would never do normally.

"THEY BROUGHT POWDER KEGS! DESTROY THEM!"

The attacks intensified and Lurio heard several explosions behind the walls. The noise made the battle sound like an absolute chaos.

"THEY REACHED THE DOORS! HOLD IT! DON'T LET THEM ENTER!"

Everyone in the yard rushed to the doors to prevent the enemy to break in. Lurio, Gre and Gaby participated in the effort. The armored doors didn't stop getting pushed from both sides. The enemy tried to break in with all their strength. They had to not flinch. Lurio didn't know how many Pokémons were holding the doors, but they were an entire group.

Suddenly, they heard an explosion which sounded very close. Even too close. Smoke appeared near of a wall. Lurio and some soldiers looked at it. He feared the worst.

Several soldiers of the Hell Army penetrated inside the ramparts through the hole created by the explosion. An Infernape led the charge and jumped on Lurio, both of his fists on fire, ready to strike. The steel type jumped aside and avoided a fire punch, upon landing on the ground, the fire type went on with an other fire punch. Lurio used his arm to deviate it and moved a bit to avoid being hit, then he punched the Infernape on the rib. He quickly hit him on the head to destabilize them and immediately followed up with a high jump kick on the spot. The Infernape was thrown towards his allies. Magmortars started shooting at them with fire balls, hitting several of them, Lurio crouched to dodge them and rolled aside so he won't be in sight. He suddenly heard the doors getting hit by something big. The doors got opened a bit, he was able a giant hand trying to open these. It was a Golurk's hand. Then there were several explosions all at once. Lurio saw more smoke next to the ramparts, while other enemies entered in the fortress.

"We're flanked! Retreat! We're getting overwhelmed!" an officer shouted, he seemed in panic.

All of sudden a huge rock on fire passed above and crashed into a building, setting it on fire. Everyone started to fall back, the Pokémons positioned on the ramparts were getting down. Lurio searched Charles with his eyes but he could not see him.

"Help me!"

This voice was familiar. It came from the building on fire. He wasn't going to leave this person there. Not this time. He turned to Gre and Gaby:

"I'll comeback!"

"Wait what do you..."

He ran at full speed towards the building. A fireball was shot towards him, he quickly rolled aside to dodge it. He entered in the building, the entire place was on fire, the destroyed roof was ignited, the wall were ready to break at any moment. Baskets of fruits were on fire as well. Then he saw Alexei laying on the ground, blocked under tons of debris. He noticed the Lucario.

"Lurio?!" The Metang didn't appear to believe someone came.

"It's alright I'm here. I'll get you out of here!"

"Behind you!"

He quickly turned around and saw a Granbull who was running at him threateningly. The Lucario grabbed his arm and his chest, let himself fall backwards and threw the fairy type into the wall behind him with his leg. He immediately focused on the Metang and removed the debris to free Alexei.

"Thanks..."

"We have to join the others, the Hell Army is advancing."

"It's that bad?"

"It is."

The Granbull suddenly got back on his feet and jumped on Alexei.

"Watch out!" Lurio shouted.

The Metang's fist wrapped itself with a bright light and he turned around fast to deal a meteor mash to the fairy type, projecting them into a basket of fruits.

"Thanks. I wondered when he was going to recover."

They heard footsteps coming from the roof, they prepared themselves for an enemy to appear at the hole , but it revealed to be Gre.

"I see why you went there. Anyway, come over here!"

Lurio grabbed his hand and got on the roof, then they both pulled the Metang, Lurio had to admit Alexei was quite heavy. Except Alexei, they crouched to avoid being seen. The Hell Army didn't stop advancing. They actually reached the second ramparts. Most of the buildings were now on fire, but the catapults stopped throwing projectiles. The situation seemed desperate.

"What are we going to do?" Alexei asked.

"For now we have to join the others." Gre asked, but Lurio could guess he didn't know the answer neither.

They moved on the buildings, trying to not be seen by the numerous soldiers of the Hell Army. They were checking every building, every shack, probably looking for survivors. Lurio thought he did well by rescuing Alexei, if he didn't, who know what would have happened to him.

"Dammit! Flying Pokémons, we better hurry." Gre said.

Lurio looked at the sky and there were indeed flying Pokémons, dozens of them. They appeared to also check for survivors, but Lurio was sure it wasn't their only purpose. When they approached the second ramparts, the Hell Army was already at the doors and didn't even have to deal with range attacks, there wasn't enough space for a person to stay on these. They were trying to open it by the force. The Golurk was trying to destroy the doors by punching it, but the armor kept resisting. When they reached the ramparts, they noticed they were too high, especially for Alexei.

"Damn, It's out of reach. And climbing would be a suicide." Gre said.

"W... What do we do now?" Alexei asked, scared.

"We should hide. For now." Lurio suggested while looking at the sky, wondering when the flying Pokemons will arrive.

"Sounds a good idea." Gre agreed.

They went down and entered in the nearest shack they found, at least one which wasn't on fire. There were three beds and a few cases which were Lurio's size. Gre quickly looked outside to check if anyone was coming.

"Now, we ponder. We're outside of the ramparts, the fort is invaded by people who would not hesitate to kill us at sight. How are we going to join the others?" Gre said.

"We could use your waterfall attack to shoot out ourselves over the ramparts, like you did before..." Lurio suggested.

"The Metang is way too heavy. We're both rather light, that's why it worked back then."

"So we're just going to wait?"

"Of course not. We're just... in a very complicated situation. Wait..."

They heard someone approaching.

"Quick, the Metang, hide behind those cases, Lurio get behind that wall." Gre said fast.

Alexei went behind the few cases and stopped levitating. Lurio and Gre hid behind the wall next to the entrance. Lurio feared someone would enter, he didn't know if they would be able to eliminate them without alerting anyone. Then someone talked outside.

"This is easier than I thought it would be. It's just a matter of time now."

The voice was odd, it sounded like the mouth was covered with something. But it sounded familiar to Lurio. Then someone else talked with a husky voice.

"Don't drop your guard. They may be up to something."

"The commander did everything to isolate them and we have the numerical advantage. How do you think they can counter?"

"Should I remind you of what happened at Firstone?"

The other one sighed.

"They took us by surprise. And you're talking like you didn't lose against two people with the help of dozens of guards."

"I am not. All I'm trying to say is to not drop your guard, like you did against that Lucario and Greninja."

He sighed again, but way louder, it was clearly anger.

"You're talking like you were there! How the hell should have I known that one of my own soldiers would betray me in such a moment?!"

"Calm down Blast."

Lurio knew why this voice was familiar to him now, Blast was the Typhlosion officer Gre and he fought at Firstone. So Mack didn't kill him after all, but why did his voice sound... weird?

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN!? Those bastards almost killed me and now I need this bloody mask to breath and I lost an eye! When I'll find them, I swear I'll kill them! "

"We're in the same trouble Blast, you think they were only mad at you?"

"But you didn't lose your ability to breath normally and an eye..."

"Wait, what is that in there?"

Lurio gasped, he looked at his body if something was visible, then he noticed the head of Alexei poked out. He wasn't able to do better, he was too big. They were about to enter.

"Get ready." Gre murmured.

A Toxicroak entered and immediately spotted the two Pokémons with a surprised face. Lurio charged a dark pulse and shot at the Toxicroak, but he immediately dodged it, which surprised the Lucario.

"Do an eruption!" the Toxicroak shouted.

Lurio and Gre didn't understand at first but then they understood and jumped to draw away from the wall, it exploded and they were both throw into the cases. Lurio got up again and was right next to Alexei who seemed stunned. When the smoke was dispersed, he finally saw the Typhlosion. He was wearing a black mask which appeared to be literally stuck on his mouth, and a black eye patch. He had burn marks that stuck out of the eye patch and the mask. Upon noticing Lurio and Gre, Blast's flames on his neck intensified and his eyes stared at them with visible hatred.

"TYLOR. LEAVE. THEM. TO ME." he said with a very dark and murderous tone. Lurio never heard something like that before.

"No. I don't want you to get into more trouble okay?" Tylor answered.

"THEN LET ME KILL THEM."

He charged a ball of fire with his hands.

"Let's move!" Gre shouted.

They quickly moved before the Typhlosion shot the fire blast. The projectile exploded at the impact, burning the cases and the floor. Blast immediately leapt on the Lucario while yelling:

"COME HERE!"

Lurio got surprised and he got against the floor by the fire type, he blocked the steel's type hands to the ground with his, his body shined and his flames intensified again.

"Time for a rematch!" he said, clos_e _to Lurio's head.

Lurio kicked Blast in the stomach, but he resisted. Suddenly Gre charged the Typhlosion witha waterfall attack. He grunted loudly.

"You don't want to face me instead?" Gre said while preparing his water daggers.

"You'll have your turn anyway..." Blast said with a threatening look.

The Toxicroak suddenly jumped on the Greninja, his fists raised.

"Watch out!" Lurio shouted to Gre.

Gre quickly glanced at the poison type and dodged backwards. Tylor smashed his fists on the floor, destroying it.

"Take care of this guy while I take care of the other." Blast said to Tylor whilr approaching Lurio.

"If you want to." Tylor replied.

The fire type cracked his neck and then stared at the Lucario.

"I won't underestimate you this time..."

He charged two balls of energy with both of his hands which surprised Lurio. He ran to the Lucario and tried to hit him with the balls on his hands. The steel type crouched to dodge the first hit, then Blast was about to land an other strike. Lurio jumped backwards. The fire type immediately threw the ball at Lurio. The Lucario just had the time to stretch out backwards and he saw the ball passing right above him. He used his hand to avoid falling and got back on his feet. He saw Blast jump on him, about to strike him. The Lucario rolled forward to avoid the focus blast, and the Typhlosion hit the floor, destroying it completely. He looked at Lurio. Lurio charged an aura sphere and Blast charged an other focus blast. They fire type shot first, Lurio jumped aside and threw the sphere at Blast. He avoided by moving the hip, right after that, Lurio jumped on him and stroke the Typhlosion's head with his fist. He punched him agin on the other side of the head. When Blast seemed a bit stunned, Lurio gave a blow with his knee in the jaw. Blast grunted, but he abruptly grabbed Lurio's head, surprising him, and smashed it with his knee. Lurio moaned and fell on the ground. When he got back on his feet, Blast started to run to him, but all of a sudden Alexei punched him on the head with a meteor mash. It barely injured him...

"Don't even..."

Lurio leapt on him and tried to land a high jump kick, but the fire type jumped backwards and dodged it. Lurio rolled to land, so his leg would be less hurt. Blast was really upset, his flames on his neck were more intense than before.

"You don't know any attack that would hurt him?" Lurio asked the Metang.

"I know earthquake but you're both too close and this shack would collapse..."

"Then all we have to do is get out of here."

Lurio looked at Gre who was fighting Tylor, he just dodged a poison jab and tried to attack with a dagger but the Toxicroack stopped his arm with his hand.

"Gre let's go!" Lurio shouted.

Gre glanced at Lurio with a questioning look but right after he freed his arm and ran towards he exit. Lurio held Alexei's hand and did the same. Blast charged with his hands a fire blast and threw it. Lurio and Alexei moved aside at the same time so they were able to dodged the projectile, then they managed to go behind their adversaries who appeared confused by the tactic.

"Now!" Lurio yelled.

Alexei raised his arms and smashed the soil with both his fists, the ground trembled. Their two enemies understood and started to run but the ground below them got destroyed and the the roof collapsed on them. But they saw on their left two Magmortars and a Claydol pointing their arms at them. Lurio and the other were against the rampart.

"You better not move Federation scums!" A Magmortar said mockingly.

Suddenly the debris of the roof exploded, there was now Blast instead, Tylor got out from the rest of the debris. Blast looked at them while breathing loudly, he started laughing.

"Well played but that isn't enough." he looked at the Magmortars. "Bring the bomb! Destroy that wall!"

The Magmortars nodded and moved away.

"I don't know what you were trying to do, but this fortress will fall and the gems will be ours!"

"...the gems?"

"What?" Blast laughed again. "HAHA! You don't even know what you're defending?! You don't even know why this fort was built?!"

"They might be mercenaries, but that would be surprising." Tylor said.

"No they aren't. They're just noisy parkers, kids who get into stuff that doesn't concern them. Anyway, enough talking, your pathetic lives end here!" the fire on his neck intensified

"Wait! The Metang has nothing to do with what happened at Firstone! Let him go!" Lurio tried to give Alexei a chance to run.

"You're really naive. He's a member of the Steel Federation and he helped you. Do you really think I'll let him go?"

The Magmortars came back with a powder keg and placed next to the wall. They backed up and one shot a fire ball towards the keg. It exploded, creating a hole in the wall.

"Whatever, now is..."

Suddenly, a lot of the Steel Federation came out of the smoke and charged the the soldiers of the Hell Army, surprised by the charge.

"What the...?!"

"Now is our chance!" Gre started running.

Lurio and Alexei followed him, the Lucario took the Metang's arm to avoid being slowed down.

"NO!" Blast chased them.

Suddenly a flamethrower coming above stopped him. Lurio looked at thze sky and saw Charles. He landed right in front of him.

"You're okay?" the Charizard asked.

"We can say that." Lurio answered.

"Go inside I'll take care of him."

When they got away from him, Lurio saw the two talking but he couldn't hear what they were saying. They approached their allies and saw the Aegislash who helped them earlier. She looked surprised upon noticing the three.

"What the hell are you doing in this side?!" she yelled.

"I helped him escape..." Lurio answered while glancing at Alexei.

She looked at the Metang with a surprised air. Though Lurio could read respect in her emotions.

"...go inside."

The three nodded and went the hole while dodging the several soldiers who were coming out of it.

"Alexei, go see a Chansey, you might need treatments." Lurio said to the Metang, he was worried if he was hurt earlier.

"I'm fine."

Lurio read in his mind. The Metang's arm was hurting.

"Your arm hurts."

"How... oh yeah you're a Lucario, of course."

"You better go see a Chansey before you return in there okay?" He asked gently with a smile.

"...Okay."

Alexei left wjile holding his arm, Lurio noticed he was hiding his pain very well this whole time.

"You made a friend?" Gre asked.

"It depends if he considers me as one."

"He probably does." Gre giggled.

Lurio smiled at what he said. He never thought he would make a friend in such a situation. Then he focused and wondered where Gaby was.

"Where is Gaby?" he asked.

"I don't know." Gre answered while looking for them.

"Hey!" it was Charles's voice.

They looked at where the voice came and noticed Charles who was flying in their direction.

"You know where Gaby is?" Lurio asked.

"Gaby is in there, he won't be really happy. He tried to go find both of you but soldiers prevented him to."

"I guess I should be sorry to him?"

"Not really, just knowing you're alive would be..."

They suddenly heard a loud noise coming from the other side, followed by screams of pain and terror. A tornado of fire was visible from where they were standing. It was huge, and it was something Lurio never saw before. Who could have the power to do such a thing?

"Oh no..." Charles said.

He ran towards the hole as other soldiers of the Steel Federation. Lurio and Gre followed him and then they heard a loud roar. Lurio already heard it, at Firstone. Right after the fire disappeared. The Heatran appeared, next to several incinerated corpses. The fire was reflected on his sparkling orange eyes, he stared at Lurio, Gre and Charles with his mouth on fire, waiting for them. Two Nidokings were standing next to it, looking at them with a confident smirk.

"I'll take care of the two poison types and distract the other potential enemies." Charles said.

"You're sure?" Lurio asked, worried for Charles.

"I'll be fine. Just do NOT let that thing get through. Do not underestimate it. Good luck."

He flew off, rushed the Nidokings and spitted out fire at them. One managed to dodge the attack but the other one got merely hurt. They both climbed a shack and chased the Charizard. The Heatran barely glanced at Charles and started walking in the direction of Lurio and Gre. Lurio could sense it was satisfied to be left alone, it wanted his preys for him all alone.

"Get ready. He's both steel and fire type remember?" Gre said while creating a water shuriken.

"Got it."

The Heatran roared again and Gre and Lurio were all of a sudden surrounded by fire.

"Move!" Gre yelled.

Both Pokémons went out of the circle of fire and a giant tornado of fire appeared at where they were standing. Lurio didn't know what would have happened if they stayed there. Lurio looked at the Heatran again and it was about to spit out fire at the Lucario. He prepared to dodge but he noticed that Gre jumped and was going to throw his shuriken at the fire type. The Heatran glanced at the Greninja and turned to him and shot a fire blast. Gre threw the water shuriken at the same time and the projectiles exploded when they collided. Gre got out of the smoke with his water daggers in hand. The creature stepped back and his mouth was again in fire. Lurio joined Gre and leapt on the Heatran to deal a high jump kick. But when he did, the fire type quickly glanced at the the Lucario and opened his mouth, aimed the ground and shot.  
Lurio and Gre were trapped.  
The explosion repulsed Lurio and Gre. The Lucario yelled because of the sudden pain caused by the fire. He rolled backwards and managed to regain control. The pain wasn't too bad fortunately. He looked at Gre, he didn't seem too injured. The Greninja looked at him and shew that he was fine. The Heatran stamped on the ground with his two strong front legs. Lurio felt heat under his legs. Lurio rolled aside immediately right before the lava spout from the ground. Lurio quickly looked at Gre, he dodged the earth power as well. But he still felt heat under his body. He started to run and the lava started to spout from the ground in different spots. The ground exploded right in front of him and he stopped in time in front of the lava. Then he noticed the Heatran charged an other fire blast. Lurio charged an aura sphere with his hands, he was faster than the fire type and threw it at the Heatran. It shot the fire blast and the projectiles exploded at the impact, creating smoke. Lurio looked at Gre who looked at him as well.

"Throw an aura sphere at the same time as I throw the shuriken!" Gre said as he created a water shuriken.

Lurio nodded and charged an aura sphere between his hands. When Gre threw the water shuriken, threw the sphere in the smoke. There was an impact sound and the beast yelled of pain and rage. The smoke dissipated and they could see the Heatran, wounded on the side. He stared at them, waiting, but the fire evading from the mouth showed it was actually enraged.

"Lurio on your side!" Gre shouted at him.

The Lucario turned and saw a Chandelure, levitating on a shack, who was going to attack with a flamethrower. Lurio quickly gathered his hands and shot a dark pulse at the specter type. The Chandelure dodged by moving on the side, but suddenly the shack he was levitating on exploded and lava gushed from the ground. The Chandelure disappeared.

"PREYS... MINE." the Heatran talked.

The Heatran didn't want anyone to interfere. Many soldiers of the Hell Army were right behind him but didn't move, they seemed to understand the message. Suddenly Lurio felt a presence behind him. He turned around and saw a dark Marowak who leapt towards him with his bone staff burning. Lurio was about to try to dodge but the specter type got hit by a dark blade from behind and fell in front of the Lucario. It was the Aegislash, accompanied with other members of the Steel Federation, including the Magnetons who helped them.

"You need reinforcements as I can see. We'll deal with those guys, take care of the Heatran." she said.

Lurio and Gre nodded. The Aegislash and the others rushed the enemy soldiers, the Heatran didn't seem to care. It walked towards them menacingly.

"I'll attack from behind." Gre said while creating water daggers.

"Okay."

Lurio rushed towards the Heatran, ready to avoid any incoming attack. The Heatran continued to walk and opened his mouth to bite the Lucario. Lurio jumped and bounced with his hands on the metal head of the beast, surprised. He landed behind it, quickly charged au aura sphere and threw it on its leg before it got the time to fully turn around. It roared of pain and bent the leg. But Lurio noticed that they were in a circle of fire. He jumped backwards as far as possible and then the tornado of fire appeared, one of his feet was in the fire, the pain was atrocious. He managed to land despite the pain. He put both of his hand on his burned foot. Then the Heatran crossed the fire, like it was nothing. It stared at the Lucario with his angry orange eyes. When the fire disappeared, Gre jumped on the beast's back and planted his daggers. It roared louder than before. Lurio stood up and leapt on the Heatran and stroke violently its head with his knee. The metal head cracked and the Heatran yelled again, but it stopped and collapsed after a few seconds.  
The Heatran was down.  
Some soldiers of both sides stopped fighting and stared at the body of the beast, they either felt joy or anger. The soldiers of the Hell Army abruptly continued the fight and even fought with more fervour, their strikes were harder. Then they saw Tylor not really far away.

"Continue the push! Strike them down!" he shouted to his soldiers.

Blast appeared next to him, his arm was injured, probably from the fight against Charles. By thinking about Charles, Lurio looked around to see where he was. Then he and Gre heard someone behind him, they turned around and saw Charles again.

"You really did it. I'm impressed." Charles said, he appeared tired.

"He was strong. I don't think we could beat him one on one." Lurio said, holdong his foot.

"What matters here is that it's down. But it isn't over There are still many of them."

"What is the next step?" Gre asked.

"For now we hold the position. It will depend on the commander's choi..."

"What is that?!" it was the Aegislash's voice.

She was looking above her. They did the same and Lurio didn't understand what he was seeing first. A giant boat started to appear out of nowhere in the sky, it had what seemed to be wings on each side and a giant ballon at the top of it. Everyone stopped fighting. They all stared at it. Even the soldiers of the Hell Army, Lurio doubted it was one of their weapons.

"Charles... what is that?" Lurio asked.

Charles didn't answer. He kept watching it but Lurio noticed his look was different, it was surprise, but there was something more, it was anger. He did know what it was.  
Suddenly ropes got down from the ship and Pokémons started to use these to go down, they were wearing steel epaulettes with the shape of horns.  
They weren't soldiers of the Steel Federation, neither of the Hell Army.  
A Sandslash jumped on Lurio and raised his claws. Lurio jumped backwards to dodge the attack, several other Pokémons went down and attacked everyone they saw. Gre was attacked by a Hitmonlee and Charles by a Ludicolo. Lurio riposted by leaping on the ground type with his fist covered with ice. The Sandslash immediately rolled aside and scratched Lurio arm surprisingly fast with his claws. The Lucario grunted, fortunately, it wasn't that painful. Then the Sandslash said:

"_Ktepiypatpe._"

What did he just say? Was it really Seraïonian? No it wasn't, Lurio never heard this before and his accent was... different. Though, Lurio understood the Sandslash looked down on him, he stepped backwards.

"Who are these guys?!" Gre asked.

"They aren't Seraïonian, I think."

Charles threw the Ludicolo in a shack and spit out fire towards the Hitmonlee and the Sandslash. The Hitmonlee rolled backwards and the Sandslash folded away, protecting himself. Lurio looked at him, he kept the same expression.

"Charles... you know who they are right?" Lurio talked to him.

The fire type glanced at him, then he closed his eyes and sighed.

"They're Galorian." he finally replied.

"What?!" Lurio and Gre said at the same time.

"I know what they're looking for. We need to fall back."

"Wait what?" Lurio was confused.

The Aegislash and other allies joined them, her shield was damaged.

"We need to fall back, they're too strong!"

Lurio and the others ran into the hole in the ramparts. But the Galorian also invaded the other side, an other boat was above them, dropping more enemies.

"We're surrounded!" a soldier panicked.

"Force the way! We need to get in the fort!" the Aegislash screamed.

Suddenly a group of Pokémons Lurio never saw before appeared in front of them. They were small, but their heads were pretty big compared to their thin black bodies. Their heads were red spotted of dark blue, their antennas seemed to be eyebrows. They were flying, but weren't using wings. There five of them. Suddenly energy waves went out from their heads and hit the group. Lurio tried to dodge but his arm was hit, it felt like it was being crushed slowly. Lurio was about to charge a dark pulse, but then he thought about their likeness to insects. So instead he jumped on one while wrapping his fist with ice. The Pokémon noticed him and levitated on the side fast enough to avoid being hit and attacked again with a psychic. Lurio rolled aside, he saw the ground where he was standing getting crushed by the psychic waves.

"_Appayk pkap Puyatio!_" the insect type said, but the Lucario couldn't see his lips moving.

One of them turned to Lurio and was about to attack. But he was suddenly wrapped by fire and started screaming with a high-pitched voice, he started to drift around and crashed on the ground. The one who did this was Charles, despite the simultaneous psychic attacks, he did a flamethrower at the insect types. The others avoided the flames, suddenly two were stroke by the Aegislash's blade which was wrapped by spectral energy. It penetrated their exosqueleton and they fell on the ground, Lurio could see some blood getting out. He focused again on his foe. He looked worried about the situation. Lurio took advantage of the distraction and leapt on him to deal an ice punch. The insect type was taken by surprise and tried to dodge, but he was too slow. His head bumped against the wall and fell unconscious, on the ground. The last one, seeing this, flew away. Lurio noticed that a Poliwrath and a Lairon were fainted. After checking quickly their aura, he saw the Poliwrath was dead, but not the Lairon. The others started to run towards the fort.

"Wait we need to help him!" he shouted at them.

"We don't have the time dumbass!" a Lycanrock answered, he was actually scared.

A Magneton joined the Lucario. He was the one he saved the other day. The Magneton used his magnets to pull the Lairon and Lurio helped him carrying him. When they approached the fort, a Pangoro flew towards them and crashed in front of them, a big scratch was visible on his stomach. Gaby was a bit further, his claw raised. He looked tired, his lungs inflated without stopping.

"Hurry! Get in there before more of them arrive!" he yelled at them.

They entered in the fort, passed guards, went up the stairs and left the injured Lairon to a Chansey.

"We made it!" a Magneton said, surprised he's still alive.

"Maybe, but now we need to know what to do against these guys!" the Aegislash replied. "We don't even who they are, what language are they even speaking?!"

Lurio was about to reply something, but he noticed Gaby and Charles weren't there, anymore. He looked around and saw them outside. He approached carefully and tried to listen what they were saying.

"You're really sure?" it was Gaby's voice.

"Yes, those ships belong to him. I'm sure." Charles said.

"But why are they here?"

"The Steel Federation has to hide gems here. I have to find him."

"No, don't go all alone. What about Lurio and Gre?"

"Take care of them."

"No wait!"

Lurio left his hiding place and saw Charles flying away.

"Gaby, where is he..." Lurio asked.

"...He's going to deal with something."

"With who?"

Gaby's mouth opened a bit, by the surprise. He glanced at him, then closed the eyes. After a while, he looked at Lurio and finally talked:

"Someone he knows for years, and tried to forget. He didn't tell me his name, but he hates him."

"But... we have to help him then!"

Gaby gritted his teeth. He was probably wondering if he should disobey his friend or not. But after a short moment, he said:

"Go watch him for me. I'll watch Gre."

Lurio nodded. He looked at where Charles went, the Charizard was heading at the East of the fortress, outside of the ramparts protecting the main building. He jumped off the balcony and landed on an other one below, then he ran on the wall to reach the rampart, he jumped and grabbed the edge of the wall, he climbed onto it and looked at Charles. He was still heading in the same direction, he was looking in every direction, probably looking for "him". Suddenly he accelerated, Lurio sped up to keep up with the Charizard's speed. He was running on the roofs of shacks and buildings, following Charles far behind him. He was passing the many soldiers of the Hell Army who were fighting the Galorian fighters. Then he noticed the further he was, the less was soldiers of the Hell Army. He was only seeing Galorian fighters. After a while Charles slowed down and started to get down, so Lurio stopped running and got down the roof he was standing on and approached carefully in a lane, trying to avoid being seen by anyone. After walking for a little moment, he looked in a path leading to the second ramparts and saw Pokémons in there. He hid behind a wall and looked prudently who they were. They were three and one was a Hydreigon, he was wearing a brown cape and silver epaulettes. The two others were as big as the dragon type, but their body seemed to be an entire white armor with the shape of a rock, their arms were short but their legs were massive. They were looking on the left and right, Lurio could glimpse their yellow eyes, but he couldn't see their mouths. Suddenly Charles landed violently on the ground behind them.

"TRACTATORI!" he yelled at them, Lurio could sense anger.

The three stopped. The rock shaped Pokémons were the first to turn around and were immediately ready for a fight. The Hydreigon slowly turned around. He looked at Charles with a mystified look.

"Who are you?" The Hydreigon replied, with the accent the other Galorian had. Lurio assumed he was Tractatori, and the one Charles was looking for.

"_You ketteyppy ktoj jko I as_."

Lurio could not understand what he said.

"_...Kayes?_"

"Kayes" sounded like a name. So Charles was actually called "Kayes"? Lurio wasn't sure.

"_Pkap iy se_." Charles replied, while nodding.

"..._I as yutktiyep po yee you kete. __Etet it I ktej je joupp seep ajait._"

They continued talking in Galorian. Charles, or Kayes, was talking with anger, and regret. Meanwhile Tractatori was talking more calmly and appeared to try to reason with him. Lurio could see the probably steel types waiting and watching the Charizard. But the Lucario was wondering about what he discovered. Tractatori mentionned several times "Kayes", so it must be true then. Why did Charles change his name? What happened back then? Lurio could not know the answer without asking Charles, or Gaby. He kept listening even if he wasn't understanding anything, so he could watch Charles. He heard all of a sudden:

"_A toyy ketyot..._"

He looked above him and saw a Scrafty on the roof smiling at him in an alarming way. He jumped on the Lucario and his fist wrapped itself with energy, Lurio rolled further in the lane and the dark type smashed the ground. Lurio charged an aura sphere but the Scrafty immediately leapt on him to deal a brick break. Lurio reacted in time and rolled forwards, passed just below the enemy, managed to keep the sphere stable while rolling and threw it at the dark type who couldn't avoid it. He got hit but was still conscious. Then the Scrafty emitted a dark aura and rushed towards him surprisingly fast, Lurio put his arms in front of him to block the incoming hits. The Scrafty did a series of powerful hits on the steel type's arms who was withstanding the payback. The Scrafty stopped and jumped backwards, he seemed to know he was in a bad situation. Suddenly Charles landed between Lurio and the dark type.

"_Joppastip a Ykatibatp..._" the Scrafty sounded annoyed.

"_Peate kis_." Charizard talked to him.

"_A Galoriat_?! _Jky ate you ajaityp uy?!_"

"_Jky ate you jipk kis?_"

Charles spit fire at the Scrafty, who fled. Charles looked at Lurio with a severe look.

"Why did you follow me?"

"I was worried, you left us and went here all alone. And Gaby was too, he allowed me to watch you."

"Hmph, should have expected that."

"But who is that Hydreigon?"

"It's personnal. You don't have to know who he is."

"Of course I have to, aren't we supposed to be friends?"

Charles looked away, he had a thoughtful expression. Suddenly the Pokémons who were with Tractatori appeared on each side of the lane.

"_Etesy it yijkp._" the one Lurio's side said with a deep voice.

"_Yuttetpet. Toj._" the other one said with a voice pretty similar.

"What did they say?" Lurio asked Charles.

"They told us to surrender. Ready yourself."

"What are they?"

"They're Duraludons, dragon and ste..."

The Duraludon who was facing Lurio leaned, put his arms on the ground and opened his mouth very widely and electricity started to come out.

"Charles watch out!" Lurio warned him.

"They're attacking at the same time! Take my hand!"

He quickly grabbed his hand and they flew off. the two Duraludons fired at the same time their thunderbolts, both attacks collided and exploded. Lurio and Charles landed in the alley, the Lucario caught sight of Tractatori standing with two other Duraludons on his side. He didn't seem surprised to see Lurio with Charles, he probably noticed him before. The Hydreigon signaled the Duraludons next to him to join the others who came out of the lane. Charles and Lurio were surrounded.

"I wondered who that Lucario was. A friend of yours I imagine." Tractatori talked to the Charizard, but in Seraïonian this time.

Charles casted a glance at Lurio.

"He is. Now answer me, what is the Steel Federation keeping here that interests you?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Gems?"

"You know me too well..."

"Just gems?" Lurio asked Charles.

"That isn't what you think it is." Charles replied.

"Seems like you didn't tell him everything about you, am I right?" Tractatori said.

Charles didn't reply.

"Hmph. You really were hiding this whole time, and look where it brought you. Right back to me. You can't run away from your past, Kayes."

"Yes I see that, Now I know I shouldn't try anymore."

"I am happy to hear that from you. _Appayk pkes._"

The Duraludons were about to attack. Suddenly a water shuriken hit a Duraldon's arm, he barely groaned.

"_Jkap pke...?!_" he said, surprised.

Lurio smiled upon seeing this. Gre landed next to Charles and Lurio.

"You really thought I was going to let you go like that?" Gre said.

"I just wanted to be fast."

Gaby also arrived, Charles looked at him with a friendly smirk on his face. Gaby laughed a bit.

"Heh, look we were all worried."

"...Thank you all."

Gaby looked at Tractatori, who seemed to be scarcely surprised.

"It's him?"

"Yes, but we have other problems."

"More friends then. I'll leave you with the Duraludons, I have to deal with something."

"Wait!" Charles yelled at him.

Two Duraludons stepped forward to prevent him to follow the Hydreigon.

"What are we dealing with?" Gre asked.

'Duraludons, dragon and steel type, quite tough but slow, watch out for their range attacks."

"Got it." everyone said at the same time.

Lurio ran towards a Duraludon. The dragon leaned and opened his mouth and he shot a dragon breath. Lurio jumped above it and went behind him. Lurio charged an aura sphere and threw it. The Duraludon immediately turned around and used his arm to block it. The sphere exploded, the steel type had one eye close, it hurted him. But he opened his mouth and shot a fire ball in the air, it exploded and was divided into several projectiles.

"_Japyk oup._" he was talking to the other Duraludons.

Lurio started to run, dodged several meteors and approached the Duraludon. The dragon type shot a thunderbolt at Lurio. He was about to dodge on the side, but he was meteors coming on each side. He jumped a bit late and his paw was hit by the electricity, he moaned as he felt the electricity going all over his leg, he rolled on the landng right in front of the Duraludon who raised his arm. The Lucario rolled backwards, but he noticed his enemy didn't try to punch him. Then he heard him sneering. Lurio understood and quickly avoided the meteor which almost smashed him. He charged an aura sphere and threw it at the Duraludon. He did a sideways step and used his arm to move faster, the sphere barely missed.

"_I teruite ayyiypatye._" the Duraludon seemed to talk to an other one.

A Duraludon behind him turned to Lurio and shot a thunderbolt, the Lucario moved aside and avoided the electricity. The Duraludon was abruptly interrupted by Charles who was spitting fire at him. The one facing Lurio was distracted, Lurio charged an other aura sphere and threw it. The Duraludon realized his mistake too late and ended up hit. He moaned and put an arm on the ground to avoid falling.

"Lurio get out of here!" it was Gre's voice.

Lurio looked at him, the Duraludon who was against him was about to shoot what appeared to be a flash cannon at Gre, and Lurio was also in the firing line. Lurio quickly rolled in the side at the same time as Gre and the dragon type shot an enormous white laser which crossed the alley and completely destroyed a shack behind Lurio. That was way too powerful for a flash cannon, maybe a hyper beam. Gre ran towards his adversary and jumped behind him, avoiding a jab from him. Lurio looked at the Duraludon he was facing, he still didn't recover, he was really weakened. He sprinted in the dragon type's direction and ended him with a kick. He barely yelled and finally collapsed.

"Lurio, Gre, get on my back!" Charles shouted.

"Why?" Lurio asked.

"Gaby will finish them."

Gre and Lurio quickly climbed on the Charizards's back and he took flight.

"Hold tight!" Charles yelled.

He did a looping, dodging a thunderbolt from a Duraludon, Lurio clung onto Charles back very strongly to avoid falling. then He looked down and saw Gaby blocking the arms of a Duraludon with his claws, he repulsed them with his foot. Then he roared quite loudly and planted his claws in the ground. The ground started to become cracked, the steel types realized what was going on and started to get away from there, but the ground they were standing on collapsed, taking them down. Charles and the others landed next to Gaby who was breathing loudly.

"We need to get back to the fortress." Charles said.

"What about the Hydreigon?" Gaby asked.

"I'll deal with him later, we need to make sure the remaining guards could evacuate."

Lurio understood like the others, the fortress was lost, all they could do was get out of here.

"But it's completely surrounded." Gre pointed it out.

"We'll fly there."

"What about Gaby?" Lurio asked.

"Garchomps can fly, you didn't know?"

"...What?" Lurio and Gre were both surprised by this fact.

"I can." Gaby confirmed.

"Then why didn't you fly..." Gre asked, he was very confused.

"I just find it funny how people aren't aware of that and get surprised."

"Anyway get on."

Lurio got on Charles' back and Gre on Gaby's. When they flew off, Gaby was surprisingly fast. He and Gre joined a balcony of the fortress way earlier than Charles and Lurio.

The Aegislash seemed relieved to see the four finally back.

"Where the hell were you?!"

"Sorry, I needed to... deal with something." Charles responded.

"Whatever, I'm glad you're back, the commander gave us the order to use the tunnels to escape."

"Tunnels?"

"Yes, it's a secret path to allow us to retreat in case we get overwhelmed. But we need to buy some time for the injured people, come help us!"

As they started to follow the Aegislash, Lurio saw Gre falling on the floor right next to him.

"GRE!"

He quickly crouched and took the Greninja on his arms. He was alive, but he was moaning because of pain and was breating quickly, but from what? Gaby and Charles rushed towards the two.

"What is it?" Charles spoke to Lurio.

"I don't know! He just... fell over."

Charles grabbed the Greninja's hand, then he put his own hand on the forehead.

"Gre can you speak?" Charles asked.

Gre nodded.

"Did you get hit by any poison type attack?"

Gre nodded again. Lurio's heart's beats accelerated. Gre was poisoned.

"When?" Charles asked.

"...when we were outside to save the Metang."

"By who?"

"A Toxicroak." Lurio answered, he remembered.

"Toxicroak poison's dangerousness increases more with physical efforts. We need to find a cure quick! Do we have any pecha or lum berry?"

"We're out of those..." the Aegislash replied.

"Dammit... tell me you have kebia berries."

"I'll check." the Aegislash before she left.

"Why didn't you talk about it?" Lurio asked Gre.

"I didn't want you to worry too much about me..."

"You're crazy..."

They waited a short while before the Aegislash came back with a Lombre who brought a kebia berry.

"It's him?" The Lombre indicated the Greninja.

The Aegislash nodded.

"You know it won't cure him right?"

"We know, we just need to slow down the poison." Charles replied.

"We gotta be fast then."

Gre ate the berry. His breathing slowed down and Lurio felt the Greninja's heart's beats slowing down too.

"I think... I feel better." Gre said.

The Lucario was relieved.

"As long as the Greninja doesn't do much effort, it should be fine. You have ten hours to find a cure before it gets dangerous again."

"Okay, let's go to these tunnels..."

They suddenly an explosion, it was close. A Magneton burst out in the room in panic.

"They litterally blasted the doors! They started to get in!"

"What?!" the Aegislash said in surprised.

"Where are those tunnels?!" Charles asked the Aegislash.

"In the next floor..."

The Magneton was leapt on by a Sandslash who stroke him, managing to shatter the steel type's metal skin. He looked at the others and yelled:

"_Etesy ykop...!_"

A small water shuriken pierced his head, he screamed and fell on his back. He wasn't moving anymore. Gre stood up slowly.

"More will come. Let's go."

"You'll be alright?" Lurio was still worried for Gre.

"It'll be fine."

"I'm going to carry you though." Charles talked to the Greninja.

"But... no I understand."

The Charizard grabbed Gre and carried him in the stairs while the others followed him, carrying the body of the Magneton, still alive. When they reached the next floor, they saw many soldiers entering in what appeared to be the entrance of the tunnels, they were mostly coming from other stairs. Commander Aleksander was also here. When he noticed the group, his eyes widened, he seemed surprised and relieved to see them.

"Oh what a relief to finally see you. We almost got everyone in, I was especially waiting for you."

"Are you sure it's everyone?" Lurio asked.

"Everyone we could help, at least."

After they made sure everyone entered in the tunnels, Gaby went in. Suddenly a Manectric came in the room and shot an electric beam into Charizard. He didn't get hurt, but he was paralyzed. An Alakazam who was wearing bronze epaulettes came by the other side and stretched his arms out. Lurio tried to move, but he couldn't move anymore. He tried again, he still couldn't. He looked at Gaby, hoping he could help but was blocked by what seemed to be an invisible wall. That must be the Alakazam's work. He had his eyes closed and his hands were shaking. Then Lurio saw Gre levitating towards the psychic type.  
They were actually trying to capture Gre.  
Lurio didn't know why, but he had to act. He tried again to move with more effort, he strained. As he saw Gre approaching the Alakazam, he strained even more. Suddenly he managed to free himself and jumped on the Alakazam to hit him with a high jump kick. He won't let them take him. The Alakazam noticed him and shouted:

"_Jukaï!_"

A Pokémon appeared out of nowhere in front of the Lucario. His foot hit the body but it did nothing. The Pokémon had a triangle shaped head tinted with dark blue, their light blue body was rather short compared ro their very long tail which seemed to disappear at the end. They were also wearing bronze epaulettes. They stared at Lurio with a neutral expression and their yellow eyes.

"Don't interfere, or you'll regret it." She said in a cold tone. Lurio was surprised to see she was talking Seraïonian.

"I won't, let the Greninja go!" he replied.

She disappeared. Lurio just had to understand what happened before he received a hit to the head behind him, he was projected on the side, he put his hand on the side of his head because of the pain. That Pokémon must be a ghost type.

"Too slow." she said, still with a cold tone.

Lurio noticed the ghost type was aligned with the Alakazam, so he shot a dark pulse towards her. She moved aside, dodging the dark beam, as expected. She realized her mistake and turned to the psychic type who got surprised. He got hit by the dark pulse, groaned and kneeled, releasing Gre, but not Gaby. Gre's hands got wrapped by dark energy and leapt on the ghost type. She disappeared again and reappeared behind him. Both sides of her head now appeared to be covered in steel. She rushed Gre who crouched in time, but she continued her run towards Lurio. He jumped, dodging the steel wing, he turned around and saw fire in her mouth. He immediately rolled forward the Greninja before she spit fire at him. Then she talked to the Alakazam:

"_Yapyk pkes._"

The Alakazam got back on his feet and stretched his arms out again. Gre threw a water shuriken at him bt he dodged it by crouching. Lurio tried to move, but was able to anymore once again. Gre tried as well, in vain.

"I can't move!" Gre said while tring.

"Same!" Lurio replied.

"Don't even try this time. I'm more focused than before." the Alakazam spoke to the two.

Suddenly Charles freed himself from his paralysis and attacked te Alakazam with a flamethrower. But the ghost type got in the way and stopped it with an other flamethrower. Charles groaned upon seeing this.

"_You ate ttietpy jipk pkes?_" she talked to him.

"_Pep se kayy, Jukaï._" he answered firmly.

He seemed to know that Jukaï. Suddenly Gaby broke the invisble wall and leapt incredibly fast on the Alakazam. The pyschic type rolled aside, dodging just in time the Garchomp. At that moment, Lurio and Gre were able to move a little, Lurio was able to charge a dark pulse and shot it towards him. The Alakazam created a shield all around him, protecting himself from the attack.

"Okay then." the Alakazam appeared annoyed.

Two balls of eneregy appeared on both of his sides and he threw these at Gre and Lurio. But just at this moment, they were able to move again. They jumped on the side and avoided the focus blasts. Suddenly an electric beam crossed the room and hit the Greninja, he yelled and fell down. Lurio gasped and saw it was a thunderbolt from the Manectric, he actually forgot he was there. Gre was still breathing. Lurio could still save him. He looked at the Garchomp, but he was occupied with a Kommo-o in a hand to hand combat, and Charles was struggling against Jukaï. He was alone. He was levitating all of a sudden, the Alakazam was controlling his body. Then he flew and crashed into a wall, he moaned at the impact and fell on the ground, but now he was near of the Alakazam and the Manectric.

"_Katapyye kis._" he spoke to the electric type.

The Manectric opened his mouth and a ball of electricity appeared in it. Lurio quickly jumped, dodging the thunderbolt and prepared his foot. The Manectric didn't have enough time to move and took fright upon seeing the Lucario. Lurio stroke violently the Maectric on his head with his foot, knocking them out. Then he immediately shot a dark pulse on the Alakazam who protected himself again with a shield, As soon as the shield went down, Lurio attacked him with several ice punches. The Alakazam avoided the punches and then stopped one with a hand. Lurio tried to do an uppercut but he stopped it as well. But he was struggling to keep the fists away. Lurio released his hand and tried to punch the Alakazam in the face. Suddenly he felt an impact on his back and a huge pain emerged. He yelled because of that sudden pain. He looked behind, there was nobody. Then he felt his body being light. He was levitating again because of the Alakazam.

"You already lost the moment I started to dodge your attacks, I outsmarted you." the psychic type said.

He smashed the floor with Lurio, the pain was intense, his entire body was hurting. Lurio's sight began to get blurry and he started to hear less and less well. All he could see was Charles trying to reach him, but Jukaï prevented him to do so, he barely heard what were said, then he felt he was carried away. Then he finally closed his eyes, he could see and hear nothing anymore.

When he was finally able to open his eyes, he was staring at one of the flying ships. He was outside, he looked around and only buildings in fire. He was dragged towards a ship close to the ground by a Zorwark who was also wearing bronze epaulettes, then he noticed a Bisharp dragging Gre. His body didn't want to move. After a while, they finally reached the flying ship, the Zorwark turned around and noticed the Lucario was awake,

"Ooh looks like you're awake." he talked to Lurio with a shrill voice.

He looked forward again.

"Tractatori, we have something else that would interest you." he said while glancing at Lurio.

Tractatori joined them and stared at Lurio, he smirked.

"Good job Brekow." he said, rather satisfied.

He stared at the Lucario for a short moment.

"So you're Kayes's friend. For now, he's my enemy, but you can be useful to us."

"...I'll never join you..." Lurio said with difficulty.

"That isn't what I meant."

He went away and headed to the ship, a little bridge allowed people to get in. The Zorwark followed the Hydreigon in. Lurio wondered what would they do to Gre and him. Then he got a headache, and he fell uncouscious.

**End of chapter 9**

* * *

There, I think you easily noticed this chapter is far longer than the previous ones. This doesn't mean the others would be like that though. I just had more things to tell in this one. Again, sorry for the late, but I hope you liked it. Post a review if you want to say anything about it. I don't know how long it will take for the next chapter but I hope it won't be too long.

Have a nice day.


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